Garden Projects – How to Make a Birdhouse

Mr. Piglet wanted a new garden project, so I set him to work making a birdhouse. It’s too late for this Spring, but the house will be ready for Autumn once the male birds start house hunting.

I’d seen so many variations on YouTube I finally decided to use the dimensions on the http://www.rspb.co.uk

https://www.rspb.org.uk/helping-nature/what-you-can-do/activities/build-a-birdbox website and set Mr. Piglet to work.

Materials: Wood (we used old pallets), screws, wood glue, corks and an old piece of Dowling for the perch

Once all the pieces had been cut to size as per the plan above, Mr. Piglet screwed and glued all the pieces together as per the instructions. For aesthetic reasons, the birdhouse is decorated with old wine corks rather than paint. Each cork is cut in half lengthways and then stuck to the wood using all-weather wood glue.

As you can see, Mr. P added another strip of wood to make it easy to attach to/detach from the Yucca tree which is situated in a sheltered location facing North East.

Voila! I am pleased with the result.

A few days after erecting the birdhouse, we saw a little bird poke its head inside to check it out, but there has been no further activity since. We are extremely fortunate to have many different birds (including wrens, sparrows, blackbirds, finches, etc.) build their nests in our garden, and they seem unfazed by our presence.

Many years ago, I heard the distress calls of the blackbirds who had made a nest in our front hedge. I looked out of the window to see a cat trying to attack the nest. I don’t know who was more surprised, the blackbird or the cat, when I came thundering down the garden and shooed it away!