Javascript Loading... Diary - updated when something new happens Picture quality has been reduced dramatically to make the files quicker to download. Pictures are roughly 25kb. 2010   30 May Bird box is empty! First chick left at 6:50am and it took less than 3 minutes for all 5 to fledge. Picture1  27 May The remaing 5 chicks all look very strong and nearly as big as the mother. They've been testing their wings and will fledge any day now. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  24 May The remaing 5 chicks continue to grow and all look very healthy. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  23 May Down to 5 chicks now with the two smallest chicks unable to compete for food and energy sapped by the heat. The remaing 5 chicks all look very strong and are growing fast. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  Picture5  Picture6  20 May The chicks now have their eyes open and are growing fast. We seem to have lost a couple as the most seen at any one time is now 7. The adult birds will remove from the bird box any chicks that don't survive. Picture1  Picture2  14 May 9 of the 11 eggs have hatched and with 2 days between the first and last eggs to hatch the smaller ones have got some catching up to do. The pictures are showing good colour on bright days with black and white from the infrared in the evenings. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  9 May First eggs hatched today Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  5 May Female has been incubating her eggs for about a week now - 11 eggs in all. She only leaves the nest for short breaks and the male has also started to bring her food. The eggs should hatch in about a weeks time around 10th May. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  26 April Female has started to incubate the eggs today - There are 10 eggs now. The first eggs should hatch in 2 weeks time - approx. 10th May. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  23 April First good look at the eggs today, can clearly see seven eggs. She will continue to lay an egg a day and staying in the nest overnight. When she has laid all her eggs she will stay in the nest throughout the day incubating them until they hatch. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  19 April Female has started to lay eggs but it's very difficult to see them as she covers them with feathers early in the morning before leaving the nest. On the 17 April pictures you can see three eggs possibly four. She will lay an egg a day an only start to incubate them when she has finished laying. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  16 April Female is sleeping in the box overnight now, laying or getting ready to lay eggs. It's been very hard to see if any eggs have been laid due to the quantity of nesting material that's been brought into the nest and the female covers the eggs when not in the nest. Have a look at these three pictures to compare the box empty, half full (the amount we normally get) and what the nest looks like today! Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  8 April Nest building at a frantic pace. I've never seen so much nesting material in a bird box before. Picture1  Picture2  Video1  14 March Visits are becoming more fequent on warmer sunny days. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  Video1  12 March Video of spreading out the nesting material. Picture1  Picture2  Video1  11 March The bird box has been getting regular daily visits for about a week now. Picture1  Picture2  2009   29 May Bird box is empty!! Chicks 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 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 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 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 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 maybe she was just getting a good nights sleep!! Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  17 May 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 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 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 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 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 8 eggs have hatched only 1 more to go, male and female have been bringing food on a regular basis.   8 May 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 First egg hatched at 5:50pm - female has been fetching the first food. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  4 May 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 We can make out 8 eggs today - Pictures of both the male and female in the nest together. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  21 April 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 Definitely six eggs possibly seven, it's hard to see. Pictures are of this morning and last night. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  19 April 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 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 Then there were three. Third egg laid - amazingly at exactly the same time, to the minute, as yesterdays egg. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  16 April 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 First egg was laid early this morning. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  14 April 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 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 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 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 Nest building has begun!!! First nesting material is brought in. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4  26 March 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 Regular daily visits by both blue tits - lots of pecking at the box entrance, no nest building yet.   14 March First pair together in the bird box today.   10 March Daily visits, lots of pecking at the box entrance, no sign of nesting yet.   5 March First serious visitor of the year today. Picture1  Picture2  Picture3  Picture4      © Nature Cameras Limited - Website built by SpikeSoft