Birds and bees battling it out for control of nesting boxes

GARDENERS may think they are helping out their feathered friends by putting a bird box in the garden.

But their intended inhabitants, the native tit, are being forced out by bees, BBC expert Chris Packham reports.

Springwatch presenter Packham, 56, revealed: ‘People are reporting to me all the time ... their bird boxes have been taken over by tree bumblebees.’

The species, which has a ginger head, a black body and white tail, arrived in the UK in 2001 and settled in the New Forest before spreading across Britain.

Mr Packham told the Sunday Times: ‘They typically nest in hollow trees but a bird box is a great replacement.

‘This year they have gone wild. If the bees get in first then the birds can’t lay their eggs. But although the tits lay their eggs in April, they scout for locations from February [so in some cases they are still beating the bees]. We are not facing a bird-box crisis just yet.’

Packham spent a year counting species in eight gardens on one street for a documentary on BBC4 next month.