A. As luck would have it, Valentine's Day marks the start of National Nest Box Week (14-21 February), so you couldn't have picked a better week to send in your letter.
Birds begin to pair off for the new breeding season from early February onwards, so the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) set up National Nest Box Week to encourage as many people as possible to put up nest boxes in their gardens.
Nest boxes are important for birds because the natural nest sites many of them depend on – such as holes in trees and buildings – are fast disappearing as gardens are 'tidied' and old houses are repaired.
With many species of birds in steep decline – including once common house sparrows and starlings – it's vital they can find the space they need to raise a family in safety. It's estimated that there are between 5-6 million boxes in gardens across the UK, but there's always room for more.
Nest boxes are incredibly easy to build, if you fancy having a go, and it's an excellent way of involving junior members of the family.
You can even make one out of a single plank of wood. The BTO has put together a free information pack with advice on making your own nesting box from scratch, where to site it, how to take care of it and how to reduce the risk of predators getting to the birds.
For a free copy, call 0800 072 0130 or fill in the form on the BTO website (
www.bto.org).
If building a nesting box sounds too much like hard work, there are plenty of commercial boxes available. One of the best is a special 'woodcrete' nest box by Jacobi Jayne which is made from sawdust, concrete and clay. As you'd expect from those ingredients, it's very sturdy, has excellent insulating properties and comes with a 25-year guarantee.
It's available with a 26mm hole (to restrict access to blue, marsh and coal tits) or a slightly bigger 32mm opening (suitable for redstart, nuthatch, house sparrow and tree sparrows), with both versions priced at £21.95 plus P&P.
Further details can be found on the Jacobi Jayne website (
www.jacobijayne.co.uk).
As well as offering plenty of free advice on setting up nest boxes, the BTO also runs a Nest Box Challenge so people can register their nest boxes on the BTO website and file reports on what species of bird moves in and whether they breed successfully.
Dr Dave Leech, the BTO's nesting expert, is looking forward to viewing this year's results: "Many people spend hours watching reality TV shows, but the birds breeding in your garden can provide just as much real-life drama and excitement.
By taking part in the Nest Box Challenge you can help collect data that will tell us how well our gardens provide for their needs."
Q. Thanks for an informative article on multi-purpose cleaners that use natural ingredients. I was surprised you didn't mention Bio-D cleaning products though. I swear by them.
Dawn Picker
A. I tried to make the list of products I covered as comprehensive as possible, but there were some notable omissions including the Bio-D range.
Sadly, I couldn't find them on sale anywhere within a two-mile radius of my home and, as I considered this the maximum distance someone should be prepared to travel on foot while shopping, I reluctantly struck them off my list.
Since then, I've managed to locate a nearby supplier, and have been particularly impressed with the company's Multi-Surface Cleanser, a concentrated cleaner for use on floors, tiles, laminates, paintwork, worktops and plastics. It's made from all natural ingredients, manufactured in the UK and approved by The Vegan Society and the WWF.
A one-litre bottle costs £2.55 from Ethical Superstore (
www.ethicalsuperstore.com; 0845 009 9016), while a five-litre refill will set you back £9.95. To find a local stockist, go to the Bio-D website –
www.biodegradable.biz – and click on the 'Buy' tab.
