Blue tits set up home in ashtray

JUST THE BUSINESS: The blue tit delivers food to her young family at Oceana Business Park's outside metal ashtray. Photo: Tony Griffiths

May 2010: Wildlife Extra has this week been told of not one, but two blue tit families setting up home in company ashtrays. In both cases, the ingenious birds have turned a metal, wall-mounted metal-box ashtray into the perfect nest site.

Staff at environmental monitoring company YSI Hydrodata in Letchworth, Hertfordshire, first noticed their enterprising guests after cigarette butts began to appear over the floor. Signs were put up asking smokers not to use the box, which had been filled with moss and twigs by the bird for her eggs to hatch inside.

Andrew Burton's YSI's Service Manager said: ‘We were confused by all of the cigarette butts that suddenly appeared on the floor a few metres from the ashtray and it seems these were removed by the blue tits prior to setting up their nest.

‘There are now around seven or eight chicks inside the ashtray and we hope they have an enjoyable stay in their unconventional home.'

Meanwhile in Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, another blue tit couple have made their home at the outside ashtray at Oceana Business Park.

'I was delighted to hear about the arrival of our newest tenants,' said Tony Mann, managing director of The Oceana Group. ‘The surrounding greenery and wildlife plays an essential role in the harmonious running of the site.

PERFECT HOME: The new blue-tit brood in moss-covered comfort in Letchworth

‘We have a groundsman who keeps Oceana in a pristine condition; and bird tables and friendly feeding areas have been installed. It all adds to the overall ambience of this beautiful heritage location.'

If there's no trees and no nest boxes then why not an ashtray?

The RSPB's wildlife officer Lee Hollingsworth said that although the blue tits' homes sounded odd, using an ashtray as a nest was neither as unusual nor as ridiculous as it might at first appear.

‘If you think about it, a metal-box ashtray is very similar to a nest box,' he said. ‘Ideally, blue tits would be nesting in a tree, but with the lack of trees, they choose nest boxes and with the lack of nest boxes, then why not a wall-mounted ashtray? It's a safe place - no squirrels or magpies are going to get in. Blue tits will make their home wherever there's a small hole. We've had reports of them nesting in cracks between bricks, in garden urns, in old water pumps...'

Do you know of any more unusual nests?
Wildlife Extra would love to hear of any unusual or quirky nesting sites - please send details and pictures where possible (taking care, of course, not to disturb the residents) to editor @ wildlifeextra.com