Good neighbours?

It's probably a little too late in the year to be giving nestboxes their MOT, but yesterday I noticed that my sparrow 'terrace' box was looking the worse for wear. It's old and the roof had a crack in it that has to be letting the rain in.
So, out came the ladder and down came the box. Getting the roof off wasn't easy as the screws were badly rusted and when I took it off I wasn't sure what I was going to find inside; I knew it had been used last summer, but didn't now whether chicks were raised successfully.
But it turned out to have two nests inside - one a neat, little sparrow nest and another, a wasps' nest the size of a grapefruit. Quite a surprise. 
I wonder if the sparrow chicks found that all that buzzing going on next door kept them awake. Or maybe it was soothing and lulled them to sleep.

(nest)Boxing Day

Is tomorrow. Or so the RSPB says. By their reckoning this weekend is the last opportunity to get nestboxes up and ready before the breeding season kicks in.

Here, I think the spell of cold weather has delayed things a bit. Given the low temperatures the birds seem more focused on finding food than anything else.
National Nesbox Week starts on Valentine's Day, so I'd make the deadline weekend the 18th and 19th. Perhaps this weekend is the one to spend making a nestbox - or buying one from the garden centre.
But the RSPB's nudge will prompt me into action. I've taken one of my nestboxes down and it's sitting in the shed waiting for a few much-needed repairs. It now goes to the top of this weekend's gardening 'to do' list.