Covering nest boxes with wire mesh reduces great spotted woodpecker Dendrocopos major predation of blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus nestlings, Lancashire, England
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Published source details
Mainwaring M.C. & Hartley I.R. (2008) Covering nest boxes with wire mesh reduces great spotted woodpecker Dendrocopos major predation of blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus nestlings, Lancashire, England. Conservation Evidence, 5, 45-46.
Published source details Mainwaring M.C. & Hartley I.R. (2008) Covering nest boxes with wire mesh reduces great spotted woodpecker Dendrocopos major predation of blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus nestlings, Lancashire, England. Conservation Evidence, 5, 45-46.
Actions
This study is summarised as evidence for the following.
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Physically protect nests with individual exclosures/barriers or provide shelters for chicks of songbirds Action Link |
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Physically protect nests with individual exclosures/barriers or provide shelters for chicks of songbirds
A replicated before-and-after study from 2005-2006 in northwest England (Mainwaring & Hartley 2008) found that the proportion of blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus nests in nestboxes that were predated by great spotted woodpeckers Dendrocopos major fell from 25% in 2005 (57 nests) to 2% in 2006 (48 nests), after the sides of 31 nest boxes were covered in 13 x 13 mm square wire mesh. The authors note that none of the unprotected nests were predated in 2006 either, but that all these boxes were at least 300 m from active woodpecker nests.
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