This nesting box has been re-sited lower down on the rear wall of the house. This has been done to provide a slightly less exposed environment, which will hopefully avoid the disappointments of previous years.
Click on an image for a larger view.
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| Roosting every night since early October. | April 2: two pieces of nesting material have appeared today. | April 8: nest-building progressing. | April 9: more grass and moss. |
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| April 26: the first egg. | April 28: another egg. | April 30: 3 eggs. | May 2: 4 eggs. |
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| May 4: Still only 4 eggs, but clearly visible. | May 5: Sitting on the eggs. | May 5: 5 eggs visible. | May 16: Still sitting. |
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| May 18: The first chick hatched this morning. | May26: Mum and Dad sharing the feeding. | May 26: The other four eggs have not hatched, but the one chick is growing fast. | June 2: The lone chick, now with all its feathers. |
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| June 2: Mother and baby. | June 2: Another view of mother and her chick. | June 3: Waiting to be fed. | June 3: Left alone at night. |
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| June 5: The young bird fledged at about midday today. Here it is, on the grass below the nesting box waiting for its mother to bring food. | June 5: The fledgling, in a small bush, hopefully safe for the night. | June 5: The nesting box, for the first time in nearly eight months is unoccupied overnight. |
Although our blue-tit laid only five eggs, with just one of them hatching, I have to conclude that we had a successful year. This is the first year that any birds have been reared successfully since installing cameras inside the nesting boxes. I attribute failures in previous years to spells of poor weather at critical times. This year the weather was kind, and food would have been plentiful as there was only one chick to feed, and I supplemented the natural food supply with live meal-worms. The live webcam has been closed down, but should be running again next year. Keep watching the site, because if there is anything interesting to show, the webcam will be back sooner.
Page created 28 November 2003. Last modified 10 June 2004.