a Tawny Owl nest box.
The dimensions were kindly given to me by Richard Broughton. A sheet of 18mm marine ply was cut into 9" planks. The 4 sides are each 27"x9" with the base being 9"x9". It'll go up facing at a slight angle upwards at a height of 10ft in the woods down the road from me. You can get 3 and 3/4 boxes from one sheet. The baton is gravel board from B&Q. Birds need to be in peak condition through the breeding season so any higher than 10ft and the bird is wasting energy flying upwards carrying prey to feed their young. I've started the second one tonight, it'll be finished on Saturday when all 3 coats of Sadolin have been applied. It's held together with 30mm stainless screws except for the bottom which is 40mm stainless screws. Of course when I were a lad, they would have been held together with sticky backed plastic and a pair of Val's old knickers........
Looking down into the box which will have some wood chips chucked inside as Owls don't like bare surfaces -
Nice work Simon, fingers crossed it will be used in the spring.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paul. Just got a few holes to drill in the base and job done. Got two more in the garage on the go, should be finished this weekend
ReplyDeleteIf you put a 1/2" cut right across the floor, about 1/3 of the way down, then any rainwater running in will not get to the nest area at the end.
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