Squirrels and Nestboxes? (1 Viewer)

[bethan.nature18]

Early this morning, there was a squirrel hanging off a seed feeder in my back garden. I scared it off, but it was very persistent. For about an hour, I took the feeder down, and saw no more of the squirrel. I also have a nest box in my garden, with a family of baby Blue Tits nesting in it. If the squirrel does come back, will the Blue Tit chicks be at risk? Can squirrels raid nest boxes or harm the chicks? If they may, what can I do to prevent this (bearing in mind that I don't want to disturb the nesting family)?
Thank you,
Bethan

 

[DownyWP]

Do you have a predator guard on the nestbox? Squirrels are one of many predators that can threaten the health of the nesting birds. This is a link to a site called Sialis, good comprehensive information about nest box safety and being a bird landlord. I wish you the best of luck during nest season. Ruth

http://www.sialis.org/predatorid.htm

 

[Mari E]

Hi,
Squirrels will enlarge the hole and steal all the chicks given the chance.
There are nestbox metal plates such as this one:
http://shopping.rspb.org.uk/p/Nestboxes/Nest_box_plates.htm
which will prevent squirrels as well as woodpeckers raiding the box.
There are also other products to stop the squirrels, however, since there are already chicks in your box, putting something on may cause the parents to desert the box. I'm not too sure what you can do this breeding season but once the breeding has finished it might be a good idea to put nestbox plates on.

 

[bethan.nature18]

Ok. Thank You. I think the chicks are near to fledging in my box now, and they are making lots of noise. I will look in to buying a nest box plate for next year.