Site a bird house pole somewhere quiet, with the box facing between north and east, a clear flight path to the entrance, and nothing beside it a cat can climb. The RSPB suggests 2 to 4 metres up for tit and sparrow boxes, so height and shelter matter more than how the pole looks from the kitchen window.
A pole gives you something a tree or a wall cannot: you choose the spot rather than accepting the one you already have. That is worth using properly.
Which way should the box face?
Face the entrance hole between north and east. That keeps strong afternoon sun off the box and turns its back on the wettest prevailing weather.
If the pole stands where trees or a building shade it for most of the day, the direction matters far less. Tilt the box very slightly forward as well, so driving rain hits the roof and runs clear instead of blowing in through the hole.
How high should the pole be?
Our bird house poles come in 1.5, 2 and 2.5 metre total heights, and around 500mm of that goes into the ground. The tallest pole therefore puts the mounting flange roughly 2 metres above your lawn.
That reaches the bottom of the RSPB's 2 to 4 metre range for tits, sparrows and starlings, which is workable for a garden box in a sheltered spot. Open-fronted boxes for robins and wrens want to sit lower, under 2 metres, but they also want to be hidden in vegetation, so a bare pole in the open is the wrong home for those.
Every pole we make loses the same 500mm to the ground, which is worth remembering when you compare stated heights. The arithmetic is set out on our pole sizes and spacing page.
Where in the garden should it go?
Pick a calm corner with a clear approach to the hole, with no branches, trellis or hanging washing directly in front of it. Birds like to come in fast and straight.
Keep it well away from your bird feeders. A busy feeding station brings noise, squabbling and predators, and nesting birds tend to avoid that sort of traffic.
Think about cats before you dig. A smooth 42mm steel tube is a poor climbing frame compared with a tree trunk or a fence post, but that advantage disappears the moment you site the pole next to a shed roof, a wall top or a low branch.
Getting the pole in straight and solid
Bird house poles are concreted straight into the ground, about 500mm deep, rather than dropped into a socket. Dig the hole, set the pole and brace it while the concrete goes off.
A pole that leans is obvious for years afterwards, so check it is plumb on two faces before you walk away. A post leveller straps to the tube and frees up both hands, and the step-by-step method on our installation guide is the same for every pole in the range.
The box itself is not included. Each pole has a flange at the top, so you can bolt on whichever design suits the birds you are hoping for and the look of your garden.
Will it survive out there?
The standard finish is hot dip galvanising with powder coat on top, in black, anthracite grey or dark green. The galvanising alone is good for around twenty years and the powder coat adds roughly another ten.
Brushed 316 marine grade stainless is the other option and it suits a modern garden. Be honest with yourself about upkeep though, because near the coast salt tarnishes stainless and it needs cleaning more often than a powder coated pole, not less.
Everything is made to order in Sheffield from Yorkshire steel, so allow around two weeks. Poles for festoon lighting and other garden jobs are built the same way, and the full set sits in our outdoor pole solutions range.