Four of us met with Steve Joul to complete the survey of the tit boxes from the Slabbering Baby down to the Seven Arches – a total of nine boxes. Eight contained tit nests and one seemed to contain the remains of a bumble bee nest.
See the insect cocoons in the hinge area of the box
Each survey your correspondent notices new things. This year, one of the new “discoveries” was that insect larvae gnaw at the wood, leaving what seem to be teeth marks (though they cannot be teeth marks due to their position), and use the wood to create cocoons. This phenomenon is shown in the picture: click on the picture for a better view.
Last January we took down the starling box as a squirrel or woodpecker had clearly attacked the entrance hole and made it bigger. This year we put it back up as David had reinforced the entrance with steel sheets! The starling box differs from the tit boxes in that it is about twice the depth and the entrance hole on this particular one is on the side rather than the front of the box. It is also distinguished by sheets of steel around the entrance hole!
A nest in one of the Woodstone boxes put up last January.
It took us about three hours to complete the survey. Having completed the survey, your correspondent and Steve returned to the picnic area and put up a new box number 12 to replace the original which has disappeared without trace.
Friends of Adel Woods 