This week on Tullamore Farm we began to place some bird and bee boxes across the farm to encourage more wildlife into the area.

While many birds will already have nests made for the season it is a relatively quiet time of the year on the farm and it suits to get this job done. The boxes will be in place for the next season and some may even get some use this season.

It’s important that farmers manage time appropriately and while this job wasn’t the biggest, it did take time to source the boxes and time did need to be set aside to put them up. Here's a short video and more details are outlined below.

We purchased three different types of small bird boxes and an indoor owl box from a local carpenter. The owl box will be put in a shed later in the season.

Different size entrances on the boxes attract different types of birds.

  • 25mm entrance - blue tits and coal tits.
  • 32mm entrance – house sparrows.
  • Open fronted – wren or robin.

    • Bird boxes need to be at least 2m off the ground. They should not be nailed to trees but can be tied as long as the tie is checked each year so that it does not restrict the tree’s growth. They may also be hung from a small branch or onto a tall pole or fence post.

    Bee boxes can be placed about 1m above ground in a sunny area and will provide shelter for solitary bees on the farm.

    In this week’s paper an action plan was set out to improve the sustainability of Tullamore Farm. Encouraging wildlife onto the farm was one of the actions and we will continue to work on this.