Firstly a visit to www.wildlifegardener.co.uk is worth a look as they offer expert advice on all kinds of ways to make your garden wildlife friendly.

Finding a good spot for your nest box

There are no hard and fast rules on siting a nest box, each garden has its own unique space. Also the species you are trying to attract will have a bearing on your decision. We all want to see the nest box and the activity it brings to our garden, but at the same time if the nest box is in the open without safe cover some species will not nest in it.
We are not experts on this matter but by our own experience we offer the following.
Always consider the fixing you use as a loose wobbly nest box will seem unsafe by a mother bird and this alone may mean the nest box remains unused.

Robin - 3 to 4 feet of the ground in good cover like a hedge or large shrub, fit to a wall or fence post

Sparrows - Under the eaves of your house, high in a tree, same as a robin box also

Blue tits - we have found they like to nest in thick foliage like a bush or shrub or in a tree 10 feet in the air which offers good cover

Bats - Put them in a ring of three around a tree trunk just under the lowest branch but at least 4 to 5 metres of the ground, or put them on your house under the eaves on a corner so two boxes can be one one side and one on the other