Re: Blue tits We hadn't seen them before but we had heard owls for several years without seeing any. Also have a red squirrel whose a frequent visitor in the garden
Re: Blue tits Here's the video I mentioned earlier with the Great Tits having a conversation, presumably deciding if this stolen house will suffice. It's unedited, so might be a bit long and boring. Literally one minute after I ended the video, they left and the Blue Tit came back. https://youtu.be/bmDeENcfvNM
Re: Blue tits A friend of mine had kestrels nesting on his balcony a few years ago. He set up a camera and it was awesome to see them develop. Blue tits aren't doing well here at the moment, for some reason. I keep coming across dead young. I don't know if they're falling out of their nests or what. It's not cold enough for them to be freezing, so I'm a bit bemused.
Re: Blue tits Interesting antics If you want to ensure you get blue tits and not great tits in your box (next year!) you can get small metal plate to fit over the entrance hole which is the right size for blue tits and too small for great tits. It also stops other bigger birds pecking at the wood to make the hole larger so they can move in or steal eggs/baby birds. Useful if you have woodpeckers or grey squirrels which will raid nests.
Re: Blue tits [quote author=JAYMZ link=topic=10501.msg155984#msg155984 date=1428833672] Oh that's so cool. We hear loads here, and the often fly overhead squawking, but I don't think I've ever seen one in the wild. [/quote] Well having said that ^^ yesterday, me and Monts watched a huge Barn Owl hunting at 6am this morning. It was brilliant. Majestic. And much bigger than I thought. I have now seen an owl in the wild.
Re: Blue tits wow! Super pictures - great quality. We have a very home made nesting box/camera set up in our garden, but no interest so far. Looking back to last year, the Blue tits arrived 12th April. Great to watch - we had 6 eggs which all hatched and fledged - so exciting ! We've put an opaque window in the side for more light this year - hoping it's not putting them off. There has been a Great tit hanging around with all the sparrows for the last couple of days. Fingers crossed.
Re: Blue tits Our nest box was pre-built and has two opaque windows on each side, albeit quite high up. It doesn't seem to bother them. Here is some nest-building footage from today. Progress is a lot slower than I thought it would be. I still think there is competition going on for the nest as there are at least two, if not more, Blue tits hanging round, and I saw Tracy (that's the current resident!) shoo an imposter out earlier today. https://youtu.be/opvVIIeCLQA EDIT: here is the nest as at right now:
Re: Blue tits Fair progress today, despite the Great Tits coming back and trying to take it. Note the white fur in the nest - that's thanks to Rocky, one of our Birman cats. I brushed him and hung up his fur in a cage for the birds to take and use!
Re: Blue tits Great to see them using the cat hair. When I pluck pheasants etc I put the feathers in one of these net bags you get fruit in and hang it on a tree for the birds to use
Re: Blue tits [quote author=JAYMZ link=topic=10501.msg156792#msg156792 date=1429125408] Haha he must have bald spots with all that hair missing! [/quote] You have obviously never encountered a Clumber, James. They shed hair like there is no tomorrow. ;D
Re: Blue tits I think we're getting very close to some eggs appearing now. The nest is looking very nearly finished. There a Rocky-hair-lined "bowl" at the rear where I assume the eggs will be laid. I'm going to be a daddy!!! Exciting. ???
Re: Blue tits Doing some reading in preparation for my babies and found this which might be of interest: Breeding Starts Number of Clutches Number of Eggs Incubation (days) Fledge (days) mid-April 1-2 5-16 12-16 15-23
Re: Blue tits Big day today. One week after it all started, I just checked it (9pm) and there is a bird sleeping in the box. That's the first time and must mean something. I'm not sure what. And I'm not entirely sure what it is I'm looking at in the picture. Is it a pair? Single bird? Is it laying? I have no idea. Exciting nevertheless. Here's how it looked earlier today: Here it is at 9pm with the sleeping resident(s?
Re: Blue tits Well this was Tracy the Bluetit late last night, around 10pm. She was busy fussing and wouldn't settle. She hadn't been to the nest all day, and only turned up at dusk. And this is what I found this morning at 5.45am...
