Robins are a beloved British garden bird, and soon enough, the animals will be looking for a place to nest as early as January. To make your garden seem like a place they’d like to call home, bird experts have shared how to attract robins and encourage them to stay.
The tiny birds have two to three broods a year, and one of these rounds starts in the new year. Before they build nests in March, robins will begin to choose breeding partners and search for nesting sites in January. Home & Roost has urged households to get one important garden job ticked off the list by Christmas — or at least before January. According to the pet supply company, bird boxes should be cleaned and ready to go by the New Year.
Why bird boxes should be cleaned in December
“Encourage them by making sure your nesting boxes are cleaned out and ready to go by Christmas,” they advise. “It’s illegal to clean out a nest box in the summer months in the UK, so your box will only be used once each year.”
It’s true — if there are eggs left in the box, they can only be removed from September to January and must be destroyed, as per the terms of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The Wildlife Trust says: “It is illegal to keep them. Only remove eggs during this window and if you are absolutely sure they have been abandoned.”
How to clean a bird box
To make your garden the “perfect” place to raise a family, Home & Roost says people can entice robins by cleaning bird boxes relatively soon.
Bird boxes can harbour parasites and spread disease, so it’s a good idea to clean them after the end of a nesting season.
“After the end of each breeding season, all nestboxes should be taken down, old nesting materials removed, and the box should be scalded with boiling water to kill any parasites,” say The Wildlife Trusts.
“Do not use insecticides or flea-powders – boiling water is adequate. Annual cleaning should only be carried out at the end of the breeding season, from late September to February.”
The best place to put bird boxes to attract robins
Now that everything is spic and span, it’s time to think about placement. In nature, robins will nest in places like log piles, hollows in tree trunks and hedges.
Robins like to nest close to or on the ground, sheltered from the elements and predators. According to the British Trust for Ornithology, this means a place no higher than six or seven feet off the ground.
Take a look around the garden and find a spot where robins can nest without being disturbed. If you’re lucky and a robin is nesting in the garden, there’s one thing to remember.
“Never go looking for the busy robin’s nest – they will often abandon a nest if they feel it has been discovered,” say the Woodland Trust.
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