Our Eco Dipper - Wagtail box has been designed to be easy to mount beneath bridges and provide a nest site for both dippers and grey wagtails. It has six mounting holes and can be equally well positioned on a vertical wall or the horizontal roof of a bridge. The nest box has been made taking into account the damp sites under bridges and near streams where this box will be placed. The Eco Dipper - Wagtail Nest Box is made entirely from recycled plastic board all fixed together using our ingenious tabs which mean there are no nails or staples to rust or corrode.
Dippers and grey wagtails almost invariably build their nests by or over running water and frequently use man-made structures such as walls and bridges on which to nest and roost. Even when natural sites exist these birds have often been found to prefer bridges and on lowland rivers, bridges may provide the only suitable nest sites. Whilst old stone bridges and steel girder bridges often provided crevices and ledges on which dippers and wagtails could nest, modern bridges, especially those made of concrete, do not provide the same range of nest and roost sites. Nest boxes are readily occupied by both species. The provision of nest boxes on bridges can help to sustain and in some instances has been shown to have increased breeding populations.
Whilst both grey wagtails and dippers use similar nest sites they don’t defend a territory against each other and have been recorded nesting within a few metres. So if both species are present it may be worthwhile putting up two boxes at opposite ends of the same bridge and if you are lucky they may both be occupied. Its best to position the box a few metres above the water level to reduce the risk of it being submerged during floods. The box is designed with an angled back to deflect the flow around the box and reduce the chance of it being damaged or swept away by rivers in spate. When mounting this box close to flood prone rivers it should be positioned with the hole of the box facing downstream.
Please Note: The Eco Dipper - Wagtail Box is supplied flat packed with easy to follow instructions to quickly put the box together requiring no tools.
