Nature Cameras Diary

Diary - updated when something new happens

pictures quality has been reduced dramatically to make the files quicker to download pictures are 25kb
28 May 2008	Bird box is empty!! Chick flew the nest today - three weeks from the first egg hatching. Unfortunately one didn't make it, but then eight did. Please check back regularly, we may get a second brood this year.
24 May 2008	All nine chicks are growing strong. Picture shows all nine waiting patiently for the adults to bring in food. It's getting very frantic now when the food the arrives.	Picture1 Picture2
21 May 2008	A close call for the birds today. A cat was sitting on top of the bird box trying to get the chicks - how did we find out? We saw its paw coming through the entrance hole having a fish around. Good news is the cat was seen off and no damage was done (well not to the birds anyway).
20 May 2008	Chicks now have their eyes open and all 9 jump up for food at the sight of the adult birds returning to the bird box. Now the chicks have their eyes open you can see them moving around the bird box during the daytime occasionally testing out their wings.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5
18 May 2008	Female didn't sleep in the bird box last night, she left at around 9:00pm and didn't return. Both the female and male we back in the bird box early this morning to continue with the endless feeding, so may be she was just getting a good nights sleep!!	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
17 May 2008	Nest is taking a bit of a battering with 9 growing chicks thrashing around. The female is now finding it hard to to find a space in the nest at night time and spends most of her time sleeping perched on the edge.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6 Picture7 Picture8
15 May 2008	Chicks are growing fast and are now covered in a dark down. It's hard to believe they are only 1 week old. Feeding is constant now, if you watch for a few minutes you should see either the female or male bring in food.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
12 May 2008	The chicks are getting big quickly, hard to think they are only 5 days old. It's starting to look very cramped in there already.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
11 May 2008	9 chicks confirmed. Last night we managed to spot all 9 chicks confirming all the eggs have hatched successfully. Now its a mad feeding frenzy for the next few weeks until they fledge	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
10 May 2008	All the eggs have hatched now, no sign of any unhatched eggs, so there should be nine chicks now but as they are still small its hard to check but we have managed to count as many as 8. Feeding occurs regularly through the day with a final mad spurt around sunset.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
9 May 2008	8 eggs have hatched only 1 more to go, male and female have been bringing food on a regular basis
8 May 2008	9:04am - 6 of the 9 eggs have hatched so far only 3 more to go, male has been bringing the female food and occasionally the female leaves the nest and you can see all the chicks	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6
7 May 2008	First egg hatched at 5:50pm - female has been fetching the first food	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
4 May 2008	A bit of trouble today when a squirrel decided to spend most of the morning sitting on top of the bird box, the female was not very pleased - not sure why it decided to sit on the bird box. However please to say the squirrel has been evicted and a deterrent installed - the blue tits seem to have forgotten all about it	Picture1 Picture2
2 May 2008	Female has been incubating the eggs now for a full week, one more week to go until the eggs start to hatch, around the 9th May
29 April 2008	Male is bringing in food for the female on a regular basis now. Female still leaves the nest for short periods.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
27 April 2008	Female spends most of the time in the nest now with only a few short trips out, which seem to be to find the male to remind him to bring her some food	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
26 April 2008	Still 9 eggs today, I think that's our total. Female is now spending most of her time in on the nest. Male continues to visit throughout the day. We predict the first eggs should hatch around 9th May	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
25 April 2008	Another good look at the eggs today, there are now clearly 9 eggs. Female is incubating the eggs and calling for the male to bring in food	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
24 April 2008	First good look at the eggs in the last few days shows there are only 8 eggs. Female has been staying in the bird box through the day so looks like she is going to start incubating the eggs	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
23 April 2008	Another egg laid early this morning, nine in total now. Something tried to follow the female into the bird box on one of her daily trips. Happy to say what ever it was it couldn't get in and everything returned back to normal fairly quickly	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
22 April 2008	We can make out 8 eggs today - Pictures of both the male and female in the nest together	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
21 April 2008	It's getting hard to count the eggs now as the female covers them over very early but we think we can see seven. Birds visit the nest regularly throughout the day bringing in what looks like hair and feathers to cover the eggs. Female stays in the bird box now from around 6:30pm to 6:00am	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
20 April 2008	Definitely six eggs possibly seven, it's hard to see. Pictures are of this morning and last night	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
19 April 2008	Fifth egg laid early this morning, again female has spent most of the morning covering the eggs over	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6 Picture7 Picture8
18 April 2008	Fourth egg laid, it looked like five at first, but I'm sure there are only four. The female has covered the eggs over again	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
17 April 2008	Then there were three. Third egg laid - amazingly at exactly the same time, to the minute, as yesterdays egg	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
16 April 2008	Second egg laid today, the female has spent most of the morning covering them over. Both birds were once again in the bird box. Male is now bring in food for the female. The female will now lay at the rate of an egg a day and won't start incubating the eggs until they have all been laid	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
15 April 2008	First egg was laid early this morning.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
14 April 2008	There has been a lot of activity in the bird box this morning, no new material but a lot of sorting out, rearranging and checking has been going on	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
13 April 2008	The pair continue to bring in minor amounts of nesting material and spend most of the time out of the bird box - we are expecting out first eggs soon - Pictures and video are of the female settling down for the evening	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
10 April 2008	Female has started to roost in the bird box - she comes in every evening about half an hour before dusk, between 7:30pm and 8:00pm and sleeps there all night. During the daytime the pair continue with the nest building, but at a much slower pace now
30 March 2008	Nest building is progressing at a rapid rate with both birds frequently bringing in nesting material but neither of the blue tits are sleeping in the bird box yet	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
29 March 2008	Nest building has begun!!! First nesting material is brought in	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
26 March 2008	First change in daily behaviour with the birds now spreading out their wings during their visits to the bird box	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
19 March 2008	Regular daily visits by both blue tits - lots of pecking at the box entrance, no nest building yet
14 March 2008	First pair together in the bird box today
10 March 2008	Daily visits, lots of pecking at the box entrance, no sign of nesting yet
5 March 2008	First serious visitor of the year today	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
2007
29 May 2007	All 9 chicks successfully fledged over the weekend, the bird box is once again empty.
23 May 2007	At 17 days old these young blue tits look nearly ready to fledge. If the good weather continues they'll be gone by the weekend.	Picture1 Picture2
22 May 2007	All nine chicks are growing strong. Picture shows all nine waiting patiently for the adults to bring in food.	Picture1
21 May 2007	Eyes wide open and growing fast. All 9 chicks are doing fine but with so little space you can often only see 4 or 5 at a time. The female regularly checks that the ones at the bottom are ok.	Picture1 Picture2
20 May 2007	Chicks now have their eyes open and all 9 jump up for food at the sight of the adult birds returning to the bird box. Now all the chicks have their eyes open and are testing out their wings.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5
18 May 2007	Female didn't sleep in the bird box last night, she left at around 9:00pm and didn't return. Both the female and male we back in the bird box early this morning to continue with the endless feeding, so may be she was just getting a good nights sleep!!	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
17 May 2007	Nest is taking a bit of a battering with 9 growing chicks thrashing around. The female is now finding it hard to find a space in the nest at night time and spends most of her time sleeping perched on the edge.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
16 May 2007		Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
14 May 2007	Chicks are growing fast and are now covered in a dark down. It's hard to believe they are only 1 week old. Feeding is constant now, if you watch for a few minutes you should see either the female or male bring in food.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
12 May 2007	The chicks are getting big quickly, hard to think they are only 5 days old. It's starting to look very cramped in there already.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
11 May 2007	9 chicks confirmed. Last night we managed to spot all 9 chicks confirming all the eggs have hatched successfully. Now its a mad feeding frenzy for the next 3 weeks until they fledge - estimated at 25 May 2007	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
10 May 2007	All the eggs have hatched now, no sign of any unhatched eggs, so there should be nine chicks now but as they are still small its hard to check but we have managed to count as many as 8. Feeding occurs regularly through the day with a final mad spurt around sunset.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5
9 May 2007	8 eggs have hatched only 1 more to go, male and female have been bringing food on a regular basis
8 May 2007	9:04am - 6 of the 9 eggs have hatched so far only 3 more to go, male has been bringing the female food and occasionally the female leaves the nest and you can see all the chicks	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6
7 May 2007	First egg hatched at 5:50pm - female has been brining in the first bits of food	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6 Picture7 Picture8 Picture9
4 May 2007	A bit of trouble today when a squirrel decided to spend most of the morning sitting on top of the bird box, the female was not very pleased about it	Picture1 Picture2
2 May 2007	Female has been incubating the eggs now for a full week, one more week to go until the eggs start to hatch, around the 9th May
29 April 2007	Male is bringing in food for the female on a regular basis now. Female still leaves the nest for short periods.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
28 April 2007	Incubation is well under way	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
27 April 2007	Female spends most of the time in the nest now with only a few short trips out, which seem to be to find the male to remind him to bring her some food	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
26 April 2007	Still 9 eggs today, I think that's our total. Female is now spending most of her time in on the nest. male continues to visit throughout the day. We predict the first eggs should hatch around 9th May 2007	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
25 April 2007	Another good look at the eggs today, there are now clearly 9 eggs. Female is incubating the eggs and calling for the male to bring in food	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
24 April 2007	First good look at the eggs in the last few days shows there are only 8 eggs. Female has been staying in the bird box through the day so looks like she is going to start incubating the eggs	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
23 April 2007	Another egg laid early this morning, nine in total now. Something tried to follow the female into the bird box on one of her daily trips caused a bit of a stir.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
22 April 2007	We can make out 8 eggs today	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
21 April 2007	It's getting hard to count the eggs now as the female covers them over very early but we think we can see seven. Birds visit the nest regularly throughout the day bringing in what looks like hair and feathers to cover the eggs. Female stays in the bird box now from around 6:30pm to 6:00am	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
20 April 2007	Definitely six eggs possibly seven, it's hard to see.	Picture1 Picture2
19 April 2007	Fifth egg laid early this morning, again female has spent most of the morning covering the eggs over	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6 Picture7 Picture8
18 April 2007	Fourth egg laid, it looked like five at first, but I'm sure there are only four. The female has covered the eggs over again	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
17 April 2007	Then there were three. Third egg laid - amazingly at exactly the same time, to the minute, as yesterdays egg	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
16 April 2007	Second egg laid today, the female has spent most of the morning covering them over. Both birds were once again in the bird box. The female will now lay at the rate of an egg a day and won't start incubating the eggs until they have all been laid	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
15 April 2007	First egg was laid early this morning.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
14 April 2007	There has been a lot of activity in the bird box this morning, no new material but a lot of sorting out, rearranging and checking has been going on	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
13 April 2007	The pair continue to bring in minor amounts of nesting material and spend most of the time out of the bird box - we are expecting out first eggs soon - Pictures are of the female settling down for the evening	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
10 April 2007	Female has started to roost in the bird box - she comes in every evening about half an hour before dusk, between 7:30pm and 8:00pm and sleeps there all night. During the daytime the pair continue with the nest building, but at a much slower pace now
30 March 2007	Nest building is progressing at a rapid rate with both birds frequently bringing in nesting material but neither of the blue tits are sleeping in the bird box yet	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
29 March 2007	Nest building has begun!!! First nesting material is brought in	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
26 March 2007	First change in daily behaviour with the birds now spreading out their wings during their visits to the bird box	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
19 March 2007	Regular daily visits by both blue tits - lots of pecking at the box entrance, no nest building yet
14 March 2007	First pair together in the bird box today
10 March 2007	Daily visits, lots of pecking at the box entrance, no sign of nesting yet
5 March 2007	First visitor of the season inspecting the box	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
2006
12 June 2006	The final 2 birds left the nest early today, a day and a half after the first left.	Picture1
11 June 2006	Day 21 and 5 of the 7 young have fledged. The first left at 6:20pm yesterday and 4 more through the day today. But there are still 2 who just refuse to go (probably boys!) and as both parents continue to bring them food who can blame them?	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
9 June 2006	At 19 days old these young blue tits look ready to fledge. We predict they will be gone tomorrow morning.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
5 June 2006	Eyes wide open and growing fast. All 7 chicks are doing fine but with so little space you can often only see 4 or 5 at a time. The female regularly checks that the ones at the bottom are ok.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6
3 June 2006	The chicks eyes are just starting to open	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
1 June 2006	At 10 days old all 7 chicks are doing well and are now covered in a dark down. Feeding is constant throughout the day with the female continuing to brood the chicks during the evening.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6
26 May 2006	At 4 days old all 7 chicks are growing strong. Both parent birds are making regular feeding trips throughout the day.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6 Picture7
24 May 2006	It looks like all seven eggs have now hatched, yesterday only one egg remained.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
22 May 2006	First eggs hatched today.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6 Picture7 Picture8 Picture9
17 May 2006	The female has been incubating the eggs for nearly a week now. The male is making regular trips bringing her food. Predicted hatching on the 24 May.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
13 May 2006	7 eggs is our total this year.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
11 May 2006	Still 7 eggs this morning and it now looks like the female has started incubating the eggs. She's sleeping in the bird box during the day and the male is bringing her food.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
10 May 2006	7 eggs today - Female is spending more time in the nest now during the day.	Picture1 Picture2
8 May 2006	5 eggs today - you can usually see them early in the morning or early evening. The rest of the time the female keeps them covered over.	Picture1
5 May 2006	Second egg laid early this morning.	Picture1
4 May 2006	First egg finally laid early this morning.	Picture1 Picture2
2 May 2006	It's very hard to see if we have any eggs yet as the female keeps covering them over when away from the nest, but in the evenings it looks as though she is periodically turning something. Pictures as soon as we see some eggs.
30 April 2006	Female is sleeping in the nest box for the first evening since the nest building started, first eggs should be laid very soon.	Picture1 Picture2
26 April 2006	Top layer of softer nesting material is now being brought in, which is a good job as this nest box is about half full!!	Picture1 Video1
24 April 2006	It's amazing just how much nesting material is brought in is such a short period of time. At the moment it seems to be mainly moss.	Picture1 Picture2
22 April 2006	Nest building is finally underway after a very long inspection period. A cold March has seen the activity in our nest box nearly a month behind normal.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
15 April 2006	Frequency of visits to inspect the nest box has increased this week with the firs bits of nesting material being brought in.	Picture1 Picture2 Video1
1 July 2005	Chicks fledged early this morning, right on cue at 13 days from the first egg hatching.	Picture1
30 June 2005	Chicks are starting to explore the limits of the nest and look increasingly keen to leave the nest.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6
29 June 2005	Chicks are really cramped now, jostling most of the time for room. It's easy to see how so many seem to fall out of the nests. It will only be a day or two now before they fledge.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6 Picture7 Picture8 Picture9 Picture10
27 June 2005	The nest seems to be getting a bit small for four rapidly growing chicks.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5
26 June 2005	It's hard to believe that the chicks are only 1 week old!!	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
25 June 2005	Eyes open nearly all of the time now.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
24 June 2005	Eyes are open when feeding.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
23 June 2005	The remaining four chicks are growing quickly and all look strong. There are clearly only four chicks now, the weak one from yesterday must have died during the night and been removed from the nest in the early morning.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
22 June 2005	One of the five chicks is looking very week today, it's probably the last one to have hatched.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
20 June 2005	All five eggs have now hatched. The last of the five hatched this morning and the first hatched two days earlier on Saturday morning. Both parents can be seen feeding the chicks throughout the day. The male is black while the female is a lighter brown colour.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
18 June 2005	First egg hatched at 9:30 this morning	Picture1 Picture2
13 June 2005	Nothing new to report as we wait for the predicted hatching date of 20 June.
9 June 2005	We saw the male Blackbird for the first time today as he guarded the eggs while the female took a short break from incubation duties.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
8 June 2005	No new eggs today - The female blackbird will now incubate her eggs for 12-14 days, so hopefully around 20 June we should have some chicks.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
7 June 2005	Fifth egg laid today - blackbirds normally lay between 3-5 eggs and incubate them for 12-14 days, so hopefully in 2 weeks we should have some chicks.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
6 June 2005	Fourth egg laid today.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
5 June 2005 Second Blackbird's Nest	A new blackbirds nest! There are currently three eggs. The nest is hidden deep inside a thorn bush covered with ivy, very well hidden this time. We've managed to get the camera in very close to give a "bird's eye view" (sorry!), but because it's very dark in the bush the infrared is on most of the time and some colour is lost from the pictures.	Picture1 Picture2
28 May 2005	Unfortunately a magpie found the blackbirds nest before the eggs hatched - and when this happens there is usually only a sad outcome for the blackbirds. We will add a new nest site soon - until then our web cam will show streaming video from our bird table.
23 May 2005	A close call with a cat today, but alarm is over and the status quo has returned.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5 Picture6 Picture7
19 May 2005	Female still incubating her eggs. The male can be seen guarding the eggs when she makes one of her short trips away from the nest.	Picture1 Picture2
18 May 2005 Blackbirds nest	Web cam has now switched to a Blackbirds nest and her 5 eggs. Female is incubating her eggs. Blackbirds lay between 3-5 eggs, incubation is 12-14 days and the young fledge at 13 days. This nest is in a holly tree where 3 branches of the tree stem making a useful bowl shape. Eggs are a lovely light blue colour - you might catch a glimpse of them on one of the females short trips away from the nest.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
18 May 2005	This morning the three young Great tits left the nest.	Picture1
15 May 2005	The chicks are growing fast now there are only three to feed.
11 May 2005	Feeding has become frantic and the chicks are growing fast now there are only three mouths to feed.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3
10 May 2005	One of the chicks died today, the female has moved it to the side of the nest - you can see it in the top right hand corner. The chick that died was significantly smaller than the other three.	Picture1
8 May 2005	Something strange happened today, one of the eggs has disappeared, now only two eggs and four chicks. It would appear that this is the females first nesting season with only 7 eggs laid and 3 of the 7 not hatching.	Picture1 Picture2
6 May 2005	Four of the seven eggs have now hatched, hopefully the remaining three will hatch soon.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4
5 May 2005	First eggs have hatched - 9:50am today 2 of the 7 eggs had hatched!!	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Picture4 Picture5
4 May 2005	Female continues to incubating her 7 eggs, staying in the birdbox nearly all the time now. Male continues to bring her food. Estimated hatching on 7 May.
26 April 2005	Female has been incubating her 7 eggs since 22 April. Male has started bring her food. Estimated hatching on 7 May.
22 April 2005	Seven eggs now. The female still staying in the nest during the day, leaving only for short periods.	Picture1 Picture2
21 April 2005	Six eggs today. The female has been staying in the nest longer and staying in for periods during the day, a sign that she may be getting ready to incubate the eggs.	Picture1 Picture2
18 April 2005	We have four eggs!! We caught a glimpse of them very early this morning - the female has been covering them over once she leave the nest. We will add some pictures when we can see them again.	Picture1 Picture2
15 April 2005	Still nest building at a frantic rate, there's going to be no room left soon! Female is coming in to roost earlier in the evenings this week - may be our first egg of 2005 is not too far away.	Video1
5 April 2005	Round the clock nest building in the 32mm bird box.	Picture1 Picture2 Picture3 Video1 Video2 Video2
31 March 2005	Nest building got underway this week, with most activity taking place in the morning. Continuing to roost most evenings.	Picture1 Video1
30 March 2005	Our Blue Tit box (25mm) is empty for the first time this year although there's been plenty of interest in the bird box. However a pair of Great Tits have been nesting in our 32mm box so the web cam is concentrating on them for now.

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