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Nest box no. 5 with five Scops Owl chicks (June 2006). Picture by D. Centili

Between 2002-2007, 34 Scops Owl pairs have nested in the project's nest-boxes while Hoopoes Upupa epops are the species relying most heavily on the boxes for breeding (see graph).

On average, Scops Owls occupy 5-6 nest-boxes every year and Hoopoes another 7-8 out of 16 available to the birds.

About 40 Scops Owls were banded in 2002 and 2003, most of them young before the age of fledging, thanks to the help of Gigi Calchetti, formerly Warden of the Nature Reserve.

Hoopoe Upupa epops chicks. Picture by D. Centili

Great Tits Parus major breed occasionally in the nest boxes, even though these appear to be too large for this species.

In 2006 an unexpected event occurred: Rollers Coracias garrulus nested in a nest box and reared four chicks. Rollers had often been seen in the Nature Reserve in previous years but breeding had never been observed.

Brown Rats Rattus rattus are the only mammal species regularly seen in the nest boxes. They appear to spend the winter months in them and fill them with lots of leaves and twigs.

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