Garden birds will also take to boxes – blue tits and great tits like boxes with a small hole, whilst robins prefer an open front. . But more unusual species also use boxes – on the Estate we have boxes up for kestrels, swifts, house martins, dippers, willow tit and others.
Bat boxes
The Sherborne bats have many roosts for raising families, winter hibernation and summer roosts. We help by making sure their natural homes are safe and little disturbed – but occasionally we help with some boxes too.
Bats like a draught free and well insulated home - and a ladder to help them get in with a few slots sawn into rough timber the ideal thing.
Things you can do as well
Even in a small garden there are a few simple things which can give wildlife a place to live.
Hedgehog boxes provide a warm spot to hibernate for the winter, and an old terracotta plant pot, left upside down, can be used as homes by toads.
Try making holes in the bottom of fences and walls to let hedgehogs through more easily.
Leaving an area of long grass helps the whole food chain and saves you work too – as it supports wildflowers, insects and small mammals, which in turn feed the birds and larger mammals. And a garden pond helps all sorts of wildlife – both as a place to live and as a valuable source of water.