Mickeydredd

very nice

After lockdown ends will probably be the best time.

Agreed. nice one!

Stunning beasts!

FS45 will not take a blade, anything with an angled bar at the head will only take the nylon I believe.

Brilliant

I'd imagine the charge is for obstructing the verge. Obstruction of what I'm not sure (given there is a parallel footpath in the safety of the woods!)

Indeed, it is an absolute minefield.

I didnt say it was unlawful, it was a general statement to counter the somewhat extreme words in the previous post. Whether it is unlawful or not however, I'm in tier 3 (despite living out in the wilds and not in a city) and happy to abide by the strongly worded "advice" which is given for good reason. I wouldn't compare Boris to Hitler because of it though. Tier 3 People living in a Tier 3 area must avoid travelling to other parts of the UK, including for overnight stays other than where necessary, such as for work, education, youth services, to receive medical treatment, or because of caring responsibilities.

You cannot currently travel freely around England either so I don't think it is any different to Scotland.

Looks good Chris, no need for the fake branch as they will use that branch below the box and then spread out in the tree/s from there. We never fitted a fake branch to that style of box.

the alarm bells are deafening....

Hi Chris Unless you are not confident of your build being waterproof then I personally would not bother with the drainage holes. If the box isnt pretty much dry inside then the owl wouldn't use it if other sites are available. We never ever put them in. Good luck!

I'm considering converting above the garage to put in a living room, bedroom, bathroom where the living room can be used as an office. I think it would add value and be attractive for home-working (I currently WFH in the mancave in my shed)

Nobody will rescue them, they are dead in the water. City centre shopping has been changing for years now and this Covid-led issues signal a further major shift as to how it will look going forward.

Looking good! We just used to make the lid the access, just took the driver with us when we went to check them and it was just a case of two screws to remove.

I don't think so. Spoke to him earlier and he has pretty much given up now. There are pretty easily made tbh and don't have to be perfect, just watertight if possible.

I think the round hole may be more forgiving on feathers.

this is the style of tawny box my mates are making these days. sizes: 300 x 300 x 550. Hole is 150mm I will try to look out the kestrel/tawny style box if I can find the old laptop!

It is good to try to get it in place well before breeding season if possible as it gives the local owls plenty time to investigate and claim it. They will roost in the box out of breeding season too.

Also, don't worry about noise, this natural nest was only about 10 feet up on a roadside beech tree but facing into the field. It was a very open hole that you could easily take a photo into! It is more around disturbance than noise as such that would put them off. They want to breed and if there are no suitable nest sites around then they will use yours.

The box on the left would suit a tawny. Kestrel would not take it, needs to be an open fronted box. We just painted it with brown fence paint.

Let me see if I can find any pics of ours, although I think they will be on an old laptop!! this is the only owl that sat tight when we checked our boxes, clearly due to have her first chick fairly recently hatched. This wasnt one of our boxes, it was a little narrow tbh, but still used clearly!

The style and size will be dependent upon your targeted species. Being from Scotland I have no experience of little owls, and you need to be sure you have barn owls on the ground really to warrant putting up a barn owl box. barn owl boxes are best in barns really but if you have tree nesters in the area (usually holes in ash trees along the field edge) then you could try putting a box on such a tree. The style of box is different to a tawny box so have a look online at the designs for the various species. The tawny box designs will also usually suit kestrels too so you have double the chance of occupancy. You may also have to evict jackdaws and stock doves as they take them too.

Just FYI, they aren't peregrine chicks 👌