Add nest box protection with hole plates

As safe as birds may seem, hidden away in nest boxes, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers and Grey Squirrels are known to enlarge entry holes so that they can feed upon the chicks and eggs inside. This is more prevalent in years where alternative food supplies for squirrels and woodpeckers are less abundant and they are struggling to feed their young. Sadly, once a individual has raided a nest box they may begin to associate nest boxes with food. This can lead to the predators repeatedly attacking boxes for a source of food.

A relatively cheap and reliable way of reducing the chance of an attack on your nest box is to install a form of protection to the entry hole. This helps to prevent squirrels and woodpeckers from being able to slowly break down the surrounding wood around the hole to a size that they can fit through. A metal plate can be very effective stopping woodpeckers and squirrels from enlarging the hole and can help to deter them from raiding other boxes too.

Another use for these handy nest box hole plates is to decrease the hole size of a nest box so that you can alter the potential birds that may look to inhabit your box. This works perfectly on our Small Bird Nest Box. If you have a 32mm hole box but would prefer to attract smaller tit species like coal tits you could install a 25mm hole plate to keep out the larger species of garden birds and make your box more appealing to blue or coal tits.

Our hole plates are made from stainless steel, so they don't rust.  They are available in four sizes (25mm, 28mm, 32mm & 45mm) to enable you to choose the size appropriate to your box or the size appropriate to the birds you want to attract. Each plate comes supplied with four screws to attach it to your box.

For more information please see our Hole Plates product page.