Visitors since 27th September 2000:
Our resident bird (see last year's narrative page ) has got over the commotion on New Year's Eve, and has been roosting regularly. The temperature outside this evening is -2C. We had a short circuit problem in the power supply to the nest box camera, which is now fixed. Sunset is now shortly after 4pm and the bird comes in to roost within 15 minutes of sunset. On the bird feeders, activity is brisk; two nuthatches have been seen at once, and a rather feeble-looking small sparrow has been eating up the leavings. Next door's cat is sitting regularly on the fire hydrant across the road, scanning the undergrowth on the common for small creatures.
The day started with freezing fog and sub-zero temperature. By the afternoon this had cleared, and the birds continuously visited the feeders for a supply of warming food.
Yesterday, we had about three inches of snow. The common opposite and its whitened trees shows the conditions for birds. Our bird came in early and fluffed up untidily and spent the night twitching to keep warm. The temperature outside dipped to -4C overnight. Recently, it has been down to -7C.
The weather has turned milder, 9C overnight. This morning our bird woke at first light and spent several minutes vigorously preening its right wing, mostly on the underside. It left at 07:25, which is 35 minutes before local sunrise. At that time the light is barely enough to see to fly by, one would suppose. As the bird has been roosting since 16:30 on the previous day, it is probably fed up with its soiled box after spending 15 hours continuously in the dark.
The nest box is not far from the collection of feeders - displayed above in a link. At noon, two birds spent half-an-hour investigating the box, one entering and trying to attract the other with a courtship display inside the box. In the course of this activity they completely cleared out the droppings and general mess left by our roosting bird.
Our roosting bird came in at 15:55 GMT, about 40 minutes before local sunset, and was clearly very agitated to find that other visitors had been to the box. It took a further 35 minutes for it to settle, tuck its head under its wing, and go to sleep for the night.
The morning of the 20th was wet and windy, and it didn't leave until 07:45.
There was no roosting bird last night. This afternoon, activity in the birdbox started shortly after 16:00, when a bird came and went 4 times in rapid succession over a period of three minutes, staying only a few seconds each time. Later on, at 16:20, there were a further 8 visits over 6 minutes; on one of the visits the smaller bird cheeped at an invisible fellow outside the box. Sunset was at 16:32, and at 16:42 our normal resident bird arrived, taking five minutes to settle down to roost.
There has been no roosting bird for the last two nights. There is a lot of daytime activity, with pairs of birds coming to inspect the box. A close range sighting of these from the window above the box shows their gorgeous plumage; the full resplendent colours are now evident for the new mating season. The sparrows are busy in the hole in the front of the house, where they presumeably penetrate to the roof space. As sparrows are in decline generally, we are pleased to have them, and are unwilling to repair the roof.
There is still no regular rooster in the camera-equipped box. However, at sunset for the last three nights, a bird has visited and looked in through the hole, as if to check on the occupancy, before flying off. In the two other accesible one-inch hole boxes there are many droppings and evidence of continuous roosting. We are taking care not to disturb the occupants of these other boxes. For a few days, the weather has been warm, up to 14C during the daytime, and the bird feeders are not dispensing so rapidly. We wonder what else the birds are finding to eat at this time of the year, or whether they just eat less in warmer weather.
It snowed today in the morning and the evening. A blizzard was blowing at 16:25 GMT, when a bird came and looked in the box several times. After making sure the box was empty, it entered and spent about 10 minutes repeatedly looking out of the hole at the other birds on the feeders nearby. It then exited, to see off a feeding bird, and after 5 minutes came back and settled to roost at about 16:50. The wind was blowing very strongly from the North straight at the box, which was shaking and rattling in the breeze. After several startles, the bird decided finally that it had had enough and departed precipitously into the fading light at 17:15, not to return. Outside, although the strong wind continued, the snow had eased. Perhaps our bird felt better off outside, having warmed itself for 30 minutes.
We took a picture of the bird feeders in the snow storm before dawn.
Frosty tonight, -3.5 Celsius air temperature and -0.5C in the birdbox, and sure enough there is a roosting bird again for the first night for some time.
There is a roosting bird again tonight, although there was not on the nights of 7th and 8th Feb. There is much activity in the bird box towards the middle of each day.
Inspection of the three bird boxes shows that they are all being used for overnight roosting at present. The camera-equipped box is clean, and kept that way, but the other two boxes are accumulating diurnal droppings. We have been cleaning them out and drying off the woodwork to try to encourage habits of cleanliness in the occupants, but it hasn't worked yet. There have been a few frosty nights in the last week; the occupancy of the camera box seems to have been regular, and not weather-dependent as has been the case in the last month. It is noticeable that the weather has been quiet; the winds light and variable; the rain gentle. The camera box seems to be a noisy place in rough weather and this may have been disturbing the resident bird.
February 14th, Valentine's day, is said (traditionally) to be the day on which the birds choose their mates for the coming season. Certainly, there has been much daytime activity in and out of the boxes. The sparrows are still busy in the roof holes on the front of the house.
There is much bird activity in the garden. We saw a bird speeding away from the dive-in nutfeeder, a peanut plainly visible in its beak.
There is an interesting follow-up observation about box hygiene. In the camera-box and the bottom garage box (we refer to this as box 2 elsewhere) there are no signs of droppings. In fact, the droppings in box 2 which were evident three days ago have since been removed by the birds. Box 1 with the camera is kept spotless by the roosting bird and its mate. However, in box 3 with the glass end, we see a copious accretion of droppings over the three days since we last cleaned it. Perhaps this box has not yet been selected as a potential nesting site. It is much less deep than the other two boxes, but compensates by being longer horizontally, down to the glass window at the end. We would like to see birds nesting in this box this year, to give us another viewpoint on the occupants.
There has been no roosting occupant of the camera equipped box for the past three nights, although there is much inspection activity of it during the day time.
There are test pieces of nesting material this afternoon, in boxes 2 and 3 down the garden. In box 3 with the glass side, these sprigs are mixed up with the droppings. Tonight, for the first time for some days, there is a roosting bird in box 1. It is difficult to identify individual birds, but this one definitely looks different, in its roosting position, from our bird who was roosting earlier in February.
There has been a male? bird in the box today vigorously stripping splinters of wood from the box surfaces, and measuring up with its wings.
Inspection of box 2 reveals the initial stages of nest construction, or it may be just test material.
No roosting bird in box 1 with the camera this evening. It has been a warm and balmy day.
There has been a change of habit by the bird(s) in box 3, with the glass end. No longer is the bird leaving droppings in the morning, but today there are pieces of straw on the floor of the box.
The errant roosting bird is back in box 1 this evening after its absence last night. Perhaps it has another nesting site under surveillance, and it is trying to keep its options open.
At 21:00 UTC it spent a full half hour vigorously preening itself, and scratching with its legs for fleas. It visited both wings, tail, back and chest several times cyclically, in a frenzy of preening and scratching, so clearly it was feeling uncomfortable. In the five years we have been watching this box, this is the longest continuous preening session we have seen.
Today was fine, warm, and sunny. At 17:30 the bird brought the first nest material into box 1, before returning in another 20 minutes time to roost for the night. Yesterday, on the 5th March, the bird enticed its partner into the box on at least two occasions, before departing in haste leaving the female behind.
This evening our bird appears to be sitting on the first nest materials to have been imported with intent. This has happened somewhat earlier than in previous years.
Curiously, the two birds visiting nest box 1 this morning spent some time removing all the material they had introduced yesterday. We are not sure whether these are the same pair of birds, or if we are observing some competition for occupancy.
One of our infrequent inspections of box 3 after dusk shows that there is still a resident roosting bird in it, overnight.
There has been a cold biting easterly wind for the past few days, and not much activity in the bird boxes. The pair of birds in box 2 are continuing to add to the material in the box, including some straw binding. Meanwhile, the frogs have laid spawn in the garden pond.
The East wind has dropped leaving glorious early spring sunshine. In box 1 our bird was busy building the nest right up to roosting time at 18:09 GMT, and she (assumed) came in with a beakful of straw for the last time in the fading light, spread it around, and proceeded to go to sleep on top of the materials.
Inspection of box 3, for the first time since the night of 11th March, shows no roosting bird any longer. The disposition of straw in this box has not changed over the past few days either. It looks as if the birds have lost interest in this glass-ended box. Contrariwise, the nest continues to grow in the box 2 around the corner.
After a foggy start, the sunshine reappeared and the garden was busy all day with bird activity. Building in box 1 continues, together with visits to inspect progress by both partners.
It was annual "patio brick cleaning day" and the workmen spent 8 hours with a 2000psi pressure spray removing the moss and algae. This did not disturb the building in box 1, but we have no information on the response of the pair in box 2 who were adjacent to the spray for most of the day.
A rain gauge was installed. There has been no rain for the past five days at least.
Today we have taken pictures comparing the nest building progress in box 1 (with the camera), box 2 (with the detachable lid), and box 3 (with the viewing window).
Thick freezing fog early this morning had burned off by 9am. Every family of blue-tits has its own way of proceeding. In box 1 this year, the male is having to spend a lot of time and effort in encouraging the female to build. He comes into the box, bobs around and makes cheeping noises, and departs to be closely succeeded in the box by the female with a very small amount of straw or other nest material. On other occasions when the male is not present, the female comes in and squaggles around on the nest structure to form its shape, but hasn't brought any extra materials. Nest building is only progressing slowly this year. Yesterday, the hawthorn leaf buds were just in the process of bursting.
Our birds seem to have been concentrating their nest-accretion efforts during the last hour before sunset every day. Today was no exception; multiple trips were made bringing nest materials between 5pm and 6pm. The bird finally came in to roost at 6:12 GMT and settled at about 6:20 GMT.
Much late afternoon activity in box 1 today, but no signs of the birds starting to line the nest cup or even introducing enough material to provide a base. Very puzzling.
When we looked in box 2, there was a bird sitting in the nest cup. This astonished the bird and the human in equal parts; the bird flapped and hissed, and the human hastily replaced the box lid and retreated.
Box 3 with the glass viewing end has been added to today and it is beginning to look as though we may have three nesting pairs of birds after all.
Box 3 seems to have less material in it than when we took the picture two days ago. Box 1 is still visited frequently but no progress is being made on the nest.
In box 2, shock-horror, there has been "the mother of all battles" leaving behind a vanquished and very dead bird . There are feathers everywhere and a great wound in the bird's flank. We noticed during the battles in previous years that fighting blue-tits aim for each others' soft underbelly and flanks. This is nature red in tooth and claw. Readers who are sensitive and find these birds "cute" may not wish to view the picture above.
When the lid was raised from the top of the box, the dead bird was hanging from the underside. We can only imagine the fight and the carnage involved. We removed the corpse and replaced the box, nest and feathers intact, in the hope that some activity will continue.
The fine and dry weather continues. The rain gauge chart records no rain for at least the last 17 days.
Revisiting the tragedy of last week, we have no information as to whether the dead bird was the intruder, vanquished and left to hang, or the resident sitting bird. Looking at the fights from previous years, recorded elsewhere on this site, the resident occupant appears to have the psychological advantage in a fight.
In any event, looking in the nest box 2 this afternoon, the materials have been rearranged and the nest cup has been re-formed.
There appears to be no nest development in the glass-end box 3, but we have seen inspections of this nest using our binoculars. At this time of the year, competition for likely nesting sights is fierce, and it would be surprising if the blue-tits were not "doing the rounds".
In box 1, at midnight, our regular roosting bird was twitching around in its sleep, just like a dog having a nightmare.
Earlier in the week we had 6mm rain. The birds have abandoned box 3 so we unloaded the small amount of nesting material they had left behind, and replaced the box to see if any new occupants may be attracted.
In box 2 this morning, nearly all the substantial quantity of remaining nest material had been removed, so we photographed what was left and removed the remains to assist the bird in reestablishing a clean nest, after the murder. It remains to be seen what will transpire in box 2 as well as in box 3.
Box 1 continues to be a site of vigorous activity, although the birds there have not built nearly as deep a nest as in previous years, and the nest cup extends all the way down to the bottom of the box, exposing bare wood.
After no more than two hours, there was a new sprig of nest test material in box 3.
The sprig in box 3 was not added to. There have been morning frosts for the past few days, but no rain.
In box 2 there is evidence of activity, with the introduction of wisps of green grass. However, the bird in box 1 has got on well with finishing off the nest, lining it with soft stuff and feathers, and making a very workmanlike job of it. Ideally we would like to be able to post 3-d pictures of this to show how deep the lined nestcup actually is. "One eye good, two eyes much better."
The bird in box 1 has been lining its nest cup with more and more carefully chosen feathers. We cannot see if there is an egg beneath these, yet. Last year the first egg in this box was laid on the 17th April.
A visit to nestbox 2 this morning found the female bird looking quietly out of the hole. After a couple of minutes it flew down to the fence top, and sat for a moment before flying away with its partner. The nest inside is well advanced, although the materials are not very high grade, consisting of much grass-cuttings and straw. There is no lining as yet, but there is a substantial amount of content.
The female human's London Marathon time this year was 4:11:09.
In box 1 the bird continues to pack in feathers, enough to fill an eiderdown or at least a pillowcase. But not even the dawning of Easter Day was sufficient incentive to persuade it to lay an egg. In box 2 there is still evidence of occupancy, and active building, but there are as yet no nest cup lining materials. It has been dry now, with only 3.6mm rain, for 41 days. The last two days have been cold and overcast.
Today, box 2 contains the first egg of the season. The nest in box 2 is very rudimentary, as can be seen above. There are only a few sporadic feathers, unlike the plethora in Box 1. Last year the first egg (see records) was laid on the 17th April after the warm winter, but in 2001 the first egg appeared on the 26th April.
The first egg in box 1 appeared this morning. It was subsequently buried beneath the voluminous feathers. In the afternoon there was 4mm rain, for a change, and we now expect over the next week to ten days, both boxes to acquire an "egg a day" each. A visit to box 2 was interrupted by the resident bird, who sat close to the human, first in the tree which is used as a staging post, and later on the fence panel opposite the box. The human deemed it wise to retreat without inspecting the nest for contents.
The female human departs tomorrow morning for Brunei, leaving the other family members on nest-observation duty.
There was a roosting bird in box 2 at 19:30 when we inspected the contents. Earlier in the day we had seen that there was still only the single egg in this box and we were concerned that it had been abandoned.
In box 1 there are now two eggs, and the bird has been spending long periods of time during the day sitting on them, including a short spell asleep.
Yesterday's observation of the single egg in Box 2 was wrong; the other eggs were hidden deep in the straw, and today we see all five eggs. There are, as expected, now three eggs in Box 1.
The female human has arrived in Brunei in a 6+ star hotel in Bandar Seri Begawan where there are reported to be SARS face masks, Italian marble, gold leaf, and a floodlit 18 hole golf course. Meanwhile we stay here watching the birds....The Brunei trip is on behalf of the Sultan to teach his trainee physicians Public Health skills, and also to award Uni. London degrees.
The bird in box 1 was dilatory in laying eggs on the 28th and 29th April, but produced the fourth egg of its clutch today, on the morning of the 30th. It has been showing a tendency to spend longish periods of time brooding on the eggs over the last few days. We have not observed this kind of behaviour at this stage of the process before.
On the 29th April we counted seven eggs in box 2, and this morning when we looked, the bird was brooding sleepily on its eggs; there may have been an eighth today.
In box 1 there was one more egg (making five altogether) laid yesterday, but no more laid today.
Inspection of box 2 at 06:10 BST shows there to be now eight eggs in a neat and trimly-lined nest cup, and an absent bird, presumably out for breakfast.
The female human is about to land at Heathrow, having put down at Bangkok unexpectedly, to hospitalise a sick passenger from Brunei. It is reported that the Brunei jungle is a "very noisy place".
Both nesting birds are now well stuck in to their brooding phases. There are five eggs in box 1, which we see when the bird departs for a forage. In box 2 we see the other brooding bird, which is surprisingly unperturbed by being photographed from above, even when we use the flash for better colours...
The male humans have been sick for a few days. The bird in box 1 has been sitting for longer periods on its five eggs, as they develop, and so has been visited by its partner who arrives bearing gifts of food. In both boxes we are now six days into the twelve day incubation phase. Hatching should occur on Monday or Tuesday next week.
Robins have been nesting in the 10 foot high hedge in the back garden. We did not attempt to locate the nest. However, today a predator found it and turfed out two well-grown but non-flying chicks onto the tarmac. We spare the gentle reader the gory pictures. The predator may have been a cat, but was more likely to have been a magpie, which are plentiful and which have been systematically searching the hedge.
The bird in box 1 continues to sit on the sparse five eggs, and is visited regularly by its mate for feeding purposes.
The robin in charge of the raided nest has been flitting about in the garden and visiting the hedge from time to time.
In box 2, an inspection when the bird was temporarily absent revealed a detailed view of the eight eggs, some of them spotted, and some substantial feathers lining the nest cup.
The birds are now, towards the end of the incubation phase, taking more comfort breaks from their brooding. Perhaps the majority of the embryo development has now happened and it is not so important to keep the eggs continuously warm.
There have been very heavy showers today and the rain gauge collected 8mm between 7am and 6pm.
As expected, the eight eggs in box 2 have started to hatch today and we have a clear view of one of the chicks exiting its shell. The five eggs in box 1 are all still intact; it is likely that they will hatch tomorrow. In box 2 we see that four of the eight eggs are open. There are four very tiny birdlets all lusting for food. Both parents are very solicitous of them.
There have been very heavy thundery hailstorms today, with hailstones on the ground about 5mm across. The hail makes a tremendous clatter on the birdbox, picked up by the microphone. This does not hinder the arrival of the male bird, bearing food for the female and two chicks which have hatched today as expected, in box 1.
Due to the cold air, the birds in both box 1 and in box 2 are not leaving their naked exposed new hatchlings but rather they are relying on their partners to bring in a supply of food.
The bird in box 1 has been busy demolishing and eating the vacated eggshells. It has also been hacking away at the nest materials which have become entangled in its foot and toes. Vigorously. This is clearly a "significant time" for these birds, and their body language is anything but soporific.
We are not sure how many of the eggs in box 2 have now hatched, but this large high resolution picture shows a great many hatchlings. In box 1 at 7pm there were three hatchlings, although the picture taken an hour earlier shows only two at that stage.
In both boxes, the hatchlings are coming along fine. They have not yet started to sprout feathers. It is day 4 in box 2, and we can see here five orange beaks although there are probably more hatchlings than this in the box.
Astonishingly, this evening, on day 3 after the hatchings occured in box 1, another egg has hatched, making a total of four. That means that one of the hatchlings is significantly behind in its development and it will be interesting to see if it catches up, or is discriminated for or against by the adults.
Overnight, the fifth and last egg in box 1 hatched.
There has been rain in the gauge for every one of the past seven days. It was too wet yesterday to take bird pictures, but we have been more fortunate today. Last night there was a noisy party several doors down the street, with fireworks at midnight, which caused consternation in the bird box.
In box 2, the birds (on day 7 from hatching) are beginning to show signs of wing feather development. The birds in box 1 are developing differentially and they have their heads down in this picture. It is now the sixth day since the first egg hatched in this box.
The bodies of the hatchlings are darkening in colour. As the weather has been changeable and the daytime temperature around 12-14C, the parent birds have been spending a lot of time brooding on the naked hatchlings to keep them warm.
In one of the outbuildings, a swallow seems to be engaged in nesting although we have not found the nest as yet. It flies in and out of the up-and-over door opening repeatedly, at high speed. Starlings have visited box 1 causing the usual kind of aggressive reaction in the brooding bird. They have no chance of getting through the one inch hole.
A heron has been flying around the common opposite the house; by comparison with our birds it looks like a huge military transport. We have no goldfish in our pond this year, although there are resident frogs.
We have today taken early pictures in box 1 and also in box 2 which both show healthy chicks and satisfactory development. For any people who might try supporting blue-tit boxes in their back gardens, it is vitally important to let the adults forage for their own caterpillars and not try to supplement the diet with seeds, peanuts, or even live food; the birds know best, and the chicks can choke on solid seeds.
This morning there was a great racket coming from the open garage. Investigation revealed half-a-dozen chattering swallows in the rafters. These left at high speed, to return tentatively after ten minutes. We still have not located any swallow nests in the garage.
We have not looked in box 2 for some time, preferring to let them develop undisturbed. The camera in box 1 shows the three first-hatchlings predominantly, but the two later-hatchlings are in there down the bottom of the box and are visible very occasionally. We have noticed before, that some of the brood can survive at the bottom of the nest cup, without apparently coming up to be visibly fed, and possibly eating the leavings of the others.
The hatchlings in box 1 are now coming into voice, and should really be called chicks from now on. The sounds are high pitched cheeping noises, as yet not particularly loud or strident. In a few days it will be possible to hear their racket from outside, standing below the nest box.
The nest material in box 1 is very deep, and the five birds hide at the bottom of the nestcup and are in part covered by the nest. It is day 12 in this box.
In box 2 it is now the thirteenth day from hatching, about two-thirds of the way to fledging, and we have a better view of the birds, who flap their wings vigorously when observed from above.
The female human, who is mortally afraid of snakes, met an adder on the track up to the Hog's Back ridge this morning on her daily run. The snake wasn't very interested, and went away rapidly.
A cool but sunny morning on this Bank Holiday. We were woken at 06:30 by a greater spotted woodpecker having a concerted attack on the entrance to box 1, which hangs just outside the bedroom window. Looking out of the open window rapidly drove the woodpecker away; it had done no visible damage in the thirty seconds of the attack.
Unrelatedly, there seem now to be only four visible beaks in box 1, and we think that the smallest and weakest of the nestlings has not made it. Presumably the remains are somewhere in the bottom of the nest materials, as it is difficult to imagine that the adult birds have removed them.
Here we show pictures in box 1 on day 14 and also in box 2 on day 15 in which box we counted six youngsters, so we are expecting there to be two unhatched eggs left after they fledge.
The woodpecker was back this morning, hammering away at box 1. As before, we chased him away by looking out of the window. Inspection of the nestbox on day 16 shows that all are present and correct.
After five minutes the parent bird was back with a large and juicy spider for breakfast.
However, things are not going so well in box 2 on day 17. The woodpecker has nearly penetrated the thin plywood of the front of the box. We attempted to foil it with an extra protective hole but we are not sure whether the parents are still around, or if they are, whether they will be put off by this addition.
Inside the box, there are six traumatised chicks (one is hidden under the three at lower left) who are making unhappy-sounding noises. The nest materials have almost vanished. We wondered why - the woodpecker hasn't been in so it must have been the parent birds that have unloaded the box.
The remaining four or five days to fledging will be critical. No doubt the woodpecker will be back to have another go. Here is a picture of the separated chick. We can only hope that the parental instinct will keep the adult birds to their feeding routine.
The good news is that, two hours later, both parent birds have adapted to the new entrance and are going in and out bearing food. There is a lot of noise coming out of the box.
This evening we araldited a piece of 18 gauge Aluminium sheet to the front of box 2 to further inconvenience the woodpecker when he returns early in the morning. The chicks are active and vociferous, scrabbling around at the bottom of the box in the remains of the nest materials. Perhaps fledging will be accelerated; normally we expect it on day 21 or 22, which might be then on Sunday or Monday next.
In box 1 the female brought in some soft nest material and placed it at the bottom of the nestcup, then departed to roost elsewhere for the night. It has been warm today, about 25 Celsius, and the night is also warm. It must be quite uncomfortable roosting in a box with four nearly-full-grown youngsters, especially when you haven't been able to get much sleep for several days.
It is the "home straight" for our youngsters now, in both boxes. Most of the body mass development has now happened. There always seems to be a hiatus at this stage, with not much happening for the last few days before fledging. We think the birds are strengthening their flying muscles, and also putting on a little more length in their wing and tail feathers. If we look at the six birds in box 2 on day 18, we can see the rounded tips to the new wing feathers. These should extend a little over the last two or three days before fledging.
In the garage, the swallows have been busy. Here is a picture of a newly built nest in the ridge of the building; it is one of two, which have appeared on adjacent rafters. We cannot get access to see what the contents look like, but when the new chicks are well-developed in a few weeks time, they will look over the brims of the nests and we may then take a picture of them.
In box 1, the blue-tit chicks have been jumping up to the nest hole for a look outside into the huge blue yonder. The woodpecker did not reappear this morning; perhaps it, too, has hungry chicks to feed.
The six young birds are still in their box (2) at lunchtime. In box 1, the most advanced bird has been flapping its wings and elevating itself to the nest hole, where it looks out amid a great commotion. Here is a view of box 1 on day 18 at about 20:00 BST. We see the rounded wing feathers. The bird which hatched last, two days behind the others, is at the bottom of the heap and can hardly be seen in this picture. We hope it is still in the land of the living.
Sadly, we seem to be down to three birds. The fourth is lying motionless in the bottom of the nestcup, and despite frantic ministrations on the part of the female adult, shows no signs of movement. We noticed that it wasn't getting much of a look-in at any food that was on offer. We think it is unlikely to have been smothered by the others, in view of the continual movement in the box. It may be that it got cold overnight after the female ceased to brood in the box.
Next door is having a burn-up with one of the occasional bonfires. The mephitic fumes and smoke are swirling around the garden, and ash is rising on the updraught. The adult birds seem not to mind; they keep on coming with food and have altered their approach paths.
Later on Friday night it became apparent that the three youngsters in box 1, on top of the rotting corpse of their sibling, were under a lot of stress from irritation, continually jumping around, startling up, pecking themselves, and totally unable to settle. The remains of the sibling were providing a fertile breeding ground for all kinds of nasty parasites; very unhealthy.
We decided on "heroic intervention" so at 10pm we prepared a shoe box for the three chicks, took the nest box off the wall and emptied the entire contents into the shoe box.
The plan was, to separate the chicks from the detritus and the remains of the nest and the dead chick, clean out and sterilise the nest box, and reconstitute it with just the three youngsters and a pristine interior.
That was fine until the strongest youngster made a bid for freedom, and took a flight across the living room. We had shut the doors, but we had an hour's hunt, as he flew around all the hiding places, behind the hifi, under the chairs, in the gas fire fitting, behind the bookcase, and behind the loudspeaker. We were worried then, as the loudspeaker has a rear vent about the size and shape of a nestbox hole.
Having totally lost him for 45 minutes, we sat in the dark, and then found him nestling behind a rugby ball. He was recaptured after flying up to a violin case, and we then executed the rest of the plan and reconstituted the nest box, hanging it back on the wall with a handkerchief in the hole temporarily. Half an hour later, the chicks had resettled and adopted their roosting postures; all signs of jumpiness and cootyness had vanished and we assumed that so far the exercise had been a success.
We spare you the view of the decomposing sibling...ugh.
The ability of the youngster to fly around the room shows that they must be close to fledging now; we hope that the mother and father will continue feeding them in the morning. The other nest box, which was attacked by the woodpecker, had given us the idea that emptying the nest materials (which had been done there by the parents) might not be too stressful.
It is astonishing how tolerant these beasts are of human intervention. We hope that we have prevented a domino effect where the presence of a dead sibling hastens the end of the others. We are not sure whether we have done the right thing here, or even if the intervention was necessary.
The experience was likened to the recovery of Apollo 13.
As expected, the parent birds were back in the nestbox 1 feeding the three youngsters starting at 5am. The mother was initially a bit puzzled at the clean nestbox and the absence of material. However, that meant that both adult birds could concentrate on feeding, rather than on nest maintenance, and there was much activity in the subsequent three hours of the morning. Here is a parent bird waiting with food on the wire, and here are both parents in the box simultaneously, attending to the brood. Later on the adventurous youngster peered out of box 1.
In box 2, the first bird has fledged, giving us a good view in the process. This is day 20 from first hatching in this box. A squirrel came along and sat expectantly on the fence, watching the proceedings with interest. The neighbourhood cats have also been on the prowl. Flocks of young starlings are doing the rounds, and have been visiting the boxes and roosting in masses on the UHF television antennas.
At 11am, all but one of the nine birds in both boxes have fledged. One of them flew into an outbuilding, another clung to the rough brickwork at the back of the house before departing for a tree, but the others all made it away into greenery. It is curiously quiet in the boxes. Fledging then was on day 19 for the birds of box 1, but as there were only a few of them they have been taking food on board significantly faster.
A final view of the season's activities is a shot of the second bird in box 1 which flew off to the left and clung on to the brickwork. Later in the afternoon we hear much calling between the newly fledged youngsters, asking to be fed in the trees, and the adults.
We celebrated with a lunch at Secretts' Garden Centre at Milford, and as an encore we found this blackbird nest in a planter.
Calm and quiet has descended, up to a point, but not outside where there are noisy calls, and flocks of youngsters flying around in "line astern" after the adults. We have reconstituted the seed and nut feeders and already they are being emptied by the hungry youngsters. Of course, we are unable to identify our particular birds from the many that now populate the garden and the trees across the road.
The youngsters look very tentative sitting on the nut feeders, but occasionally they give the camera a fine view when they settle.
The young human is busy providing food to the fauna. The squirrels come and bury the surplus peanuts in one inch diameter holes in the lawn.
Credits for the pictures below go to the young human, who took the pictures from an improvised hide behind the patio door curtains.
The food we provide for the birds is being eaten at an astonishing rate, requiring weekly visits to the shop to replenish the stocks. Here is a picture of a bluetit clutching a nut in its claws and looking around to see if there is any competition. On the lawn there is a ground-feeding chaffinch, and on the seed feeder we see a resplendent goldfinch. It is still nesting season for robins, and on the ground is a scratty looking robin peering around alertly.
The female human spotted a swallow chick in the nest in the garage. There has been much coming and going by several adult swallows recently, and we suspected that there were some young there. Here is a picture of an expectant beak waiting to be fed.
This afternoon, a parus major (great-tit) flew in to the living room, doing a few circuits before being persuaded to leave through the open patio doors. We got a fine view of the intricate feathers on its back.
The swallow chicks have fledged. One was sitting on the ground by the garage door and flew away unsteadily when the human approached. Meanwhile, the two parents were perched on the telephone wire and paying careful attention to their young.
The parus caeruleus have started to roost overnight again in the camera-equipped nestbox, box 1. Inspection by video this morning shows a copious supply of droppings on the bottom of the box.
We have been watching the roosting bird in our box 1 equipped with infrared camera every night in November 2003. Generally it is being quite clean, and not leaving too many droppings, which can sometimes happen. It is a fit and glossy bird, and spends much time preening itself. It leaves every morning at first light and returns after sunset.
Our resident bird has been in to roost every night since the last report on 14th November. Today is sunny and there is much bird activity in the garden, with pairs forming and much festive socialising. Next door, a new nut feeder has appeared which is receiving attention. There is a thrush at the foot of the garden. Birds have been in all three of the nestboxes to roost. It is nearly time to close down the 2003 bird activity diary and start a new page for the New Year.
It has been a warm holiday season, with daytime temperatures often over 10C. Today it is raining, and only 4C, but that is not detering the birds, who are flocking to the nutfeeders. A pair of blue tits has been investigating the camera-equipped box, and displaying to each other, and inviting the partner in. On the wire outside, pairs of birds have been chasing each other up and down, showing off first one side, then the other, as they advance.
New Year's eve. Perhaps our bird has learned that there will be fireworks let off at midnight. In any event, (s)he has chosen not to roost in the box this evening.
email d.jefferies@surrey.ac.uk David Jefferies 31st December 2003
