Armoured birdbox

May 19 2008

A bird lover has been forced to add makeshift armour plating to a nesting box in his garden to save a family of blue tits from a hungry woodpecker.

Dave Jones took the measures after watching the Greater Spotted Woodpecker's attempts to force entry into the blue tits' home in Great Barr, West Midlands.

He was forced into action to protect the birdbox, which has been in use for 12 years, because he feared the "ferocious" woodpecker was about to succeed in its efforts to eat the chicks inside.