Mainwaring, Mark C. and Hartley, Ian 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. pp. 45-46.
Mainwaring_&_Hartley_2008_Conservation_Evidence.pdf
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Abstract
Great spotted woodpeckers Dendrocopos major predated nestlings from 14 out of 57 blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus broods by pecking through the sides of wooden nest boxes in 2005. Therefore, 31 nest boxes were covered with wire mesh prior to the 2006 breeding season. This action was largely successful, as nestlings from only 1 out of 48 broods of blue tits were predated in the 2006 breeding season. Therefore, covering nest boxes of this type with wire mesh appeared to be a simple and effective method of reducing woodpecker predation rates upon nest box breeding birds.