Nest boxes 2020.xlsx Nest boxes 2020.xlsx
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sw nest box map 10.5.20.pdf sw nest box map 10.5.20.pdf
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Tawny Owl Nest Box.pdf Tawny Owl Nest Box.pdf
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nest box list 7.4.16.pdf nest box list 7.4.16.pdf
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Owl Nest Box Designs.pdf Owl Nest Box Designs.pdf
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Little Owl Nest Box.pdf Little Owl Nest Box.pdf
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Nesting Boxes in Selsdon Wood

The FSW have installed a number of nesting boxes for birds and bats over the years - see map and listing above. Those installed since 2020 are not yet recorded on the map. Photos of some of these are shown below in reverse chronological order.

4 Bird Boxes made by Jim Dunning

March 2023. 

2 Bird Boxes in the Jubilee

Installed February 2023. 

One of these boxes was visited by a Blue Tit just one week later - see the Bird Feeding Station page.

Blue Tits Nesting In Bat Box
April 2022 (RB)
Robin Box installed in Broom Path
April 2022 (RB)
Bat Boxes
Installed in Leafy Grove in August 2021

Boxes installed in Selsdon Wood prior to 2021

Five bird boxes were installed in 2012 (purchased from Leeway Woodwork) and in 2015/6 we added more bird boxes and one bat box, which had been made for us by Jim Dunning. The locations are shown in the above map and some of the boxes are shown below. SInce all boxes are close to paths there is an opportunity for people to watch birds going in and out when they are in use. Boxes also provide roosting places for birds and for young birds that survive somewhere to hide from bad weather and from adult birds.


Linden Glade nest box
with Blue Tits feeding young 19/5/20
The base of this box is coming loose - a repair job for when nesting season is over.
Bird Box in Pool Grove
with Blue Tits nesting 9/5/20
Baby Squirrel in Owl Box
The owl box on the western side of Smith Grove just before Linden Glade is regularly occupied by squirrels. This 2017 photo shows one of the pair of baby squirrels born and reared in that box.
Tawny Owl Box being erected
3/12/17 -  Neale and Ted agreed a possible site for the Tawny Owl nest box and later Neale and Jim put it into position. They also added woodchips to the Tawny box and the Little Owl box (see below).
Bat Box In Courtwood Grove
Bird Box in Linden Glade
This is the box shown in the Birds gallery on the Fauna page with Blue Tits nesting.
Bird Box in Beech Grove near the Noakes Way end.
Owl Box in Linden Glade
2015 Bird Box in  Greenhill Way
Wren nesting in Bat Box
7th July 2019 -  A Wren appears to have taken up residence in the bat box sited above the store room door.
Bat Box in Leafy Grove 
erected 4/11/18
Little Owl Box
installed towards the far end of Farleigh Border 5/11/17.
Now needing new front door 9/5/20.
Bird Box in The Gorses
All the boxes in Middle Gorse are of the same design with side opening.
Bird Box in Farleigh Border
Old Bird Box in Farleigh Border
One of a number of old boxes round the reserve, most of which are rotten and probably unusable. They were sponsored  by the RSPB and installed in the early 80s.
Bird Box in Beech Grove between Avis Grove & Broad Walk.
Older Bird Box in Greenhill Way by the path to David's Crook showing signs of attack by a Greater Spotted Woodpecker which has made a large hole in the front. 
These birds are notorious for such attacks. They prey upon eggs and nestlings of a wide variety of birds, particularly those using nestboxes.  They may enter the box by enlarging the nesthole, but they appear to locate nestlings by sound as a new hole is often hacked in the side of the box as here.
This is why we usually reinforce the entrance hole with a metal plate when creating the boxes but it cannot stop the type of attack that has happened here.