Where do jays nest?
Jay · Garrulus glandarius
Jays nest in woodland, building a shallow cup of twigs in the fork of a tree or a tall, dense bush. Oak and mixed woods are their favourite, along with conifer plantations, big well-wooded gardens and parks. Both birds build the nest, and they raise one brood a year, with eggs laid in spring.
Nyth turns this into a puzzle. Play a level
- Where
- A fork in a tree or tall bush, in woodland or big leafy gardens
- Nest
- A shallow cup of twigs, lined with fine roots
- When
- Eggs mainly in late March and April
- Eggs
- Usually 4 or 5, about 18 days of sitting
- Broods
- One
- Fledging
- About 3 weeks after hatching
- Nest box
- None: jays build in the open
Where jays nest
Jays are woodland crows, shy for their family, and they nest where there is plenty of cover: in the fork of a tree or a tall, thick bush, well hidden among the branches. Oak woods and mixed woods suit them best, and conifer plantations work too.
They will nest in big gardens and parks if there are enough mature trees and dense shrubs to hide in. For all the noise they make, a jay’s nest is hard to find.
What a jay’s nest looks like
A fairly shallow cup of twigs, with a finer lining of roots and sometimes hair. Both the male and the female build it. It is a tidy nest for a crow, nothing like the big domed bundle a magpie makes.
When jays nest
Jays lay early. Most eggs go in during late March and April. There are usually four or five, and they hatch after about 18 days. The chicks fly at about three weeks old.
Go near a nest and you will know about it. Jays screech an alarm, and the BTO notes it can be mixed with imitations of the calls of predators. Like other crows, they also feed other birds’ eggs and chicks to their young, which is not the cosiest fact about them.
How to help jays
There is no nest box for jays. What they need is trees:
- Keep mature trees, especially oaks, and tall, dense shrubs and ivy for cover.
- Put out peanuts. Jays visit gardens for them, especially in autumn and winter.
- Cut hedges and shrubs in autumn and winter, not between March and August, when birds are nesting.
Jays plant oak trees
This is my favourite thing about them. In autumn a jay collects acorns and buries them one by one to eat over winter, thousands of them. It does not come back for all of them, and the ones it forgets can grow into new oaks. A lot of the oak woods jays nest in were, in a sense, planted by jays.
Checked against: RSPB: Jay, BTO BirdFacts: Jay. Last checked 8 November 2026.
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One nest in every row, every column and every colour, and no two nests touching, not even at a corner. Tap a square once to cross it off. Double tap to place a nest.
Every nest found
Those are the robin’s first three levels. The game has 1,000, and nineteen more birds.
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Questions
Do jays nest in gardens?
Sometimes, if the garden is big and has mature trees and dense shrubs. Most jays nest in woodland.
When do jays lay eggs?
Mostly in late March and April. They raise one brood a year.
Do jays use nest boxes?
No. They build an open cup of twigs in a tree or bush.
Why do jays bury acorns?
To eat over winter. They bury thousands each autumn, and the ones they never dig up can grow into oak trees.
