PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

I've been enjoying the sunny weather by spending quality time with my daughter, something I don't have to often.

But as we've been in the garden lots, I've managed to keep an eye on the great tit nestbox.

The main activity in the second week of incubating has been watching the male bring food to the female.

She is spending much more time on the eggs and now rarely ventures out of the nestbox. On the one occasion I spotted her doing so I did count that eight eggs were still there.

I'm anticipating the hatching in the next 24-48 hours, although it could be another 4/5 days before all the eggs hatch, if they all do.

The mealworms are going down a treat with the robins, blackbirds and the male great tit, who is splitting them in half before feeding his mate.

My one worry is the blue tits. I've not seen any around the garden for a week and I've got the feeling they've decided to move on.

On the pond, I've not seen any more of the frog and no sign of frogspawn. The pond filling might begin this weekend.

More updates over the weekend when I hope to bring some news of a hatching or two!

JUMPING FOR JOY

Two news updates tonight as some people's Easter celebrations give way to that sick feeling from eating too much chocolate. I feel fine as my Easter diet has been mainly watching the great tit eggs.

The great tit female has spent much more time incubating the eggs, while the male is often seen 'on guard' in the trees near the nestbox.

It's interesting to see and hear the interaction between the pair, especially when anyone s outside in the garden. The male must be reassuring the female on the nest, giving her he confidence to keep the eggs warm.

I did witness a very interesting battle between the female and a mosquito type creature, all in the darkness of the nestbox. The video below shows what happened.

I don't think there are any more eggs so the total appears to be eight, fingers crossed they all hatch and survive to at least fledgling.

In other news, I was putting extra plants in the rockery when I noticed a pair of eyes looking at me from the pond.

A frog was half submerged and motionless, watching me attend to the surrounding rockery. t even allowed me to take two photographs.

I think it's a little late for new frogspawn, so wonder if it's a tadpole from last year visiting the place it grew up.

I'll be keeping an eye on the pond to see what develops, but don't expect it to be another place in my garden to produce new wildlife.

The below photos of the pond are taken with seconds of each. Can you spot the frog?

EIGHTH WONDER OF THE NESTBOX

Well wonders never cease! Certainly not in my camera nestbox, as the eighth egg made an appearance this morning.

It makes me wonder if a ninth will appear tomorrow; my money is on not, but given my recent betting tips I'm not hopeful of a win

The female has been attending to the incubating very well today, with lots of egg turning and turning herself in the nest - no wonder the nest looks and feels like a perfectly formed mug from a pottery wheel.


As the warm weather starts to fade I think the female will spend more time in the nestbox and incubating the eggs, as the due date looms ever closer.

If my calculations (and bird book) are correct, the first chick should put in an appearance on Bank Holiday Monday.

I'm keeping everything crossed that all the eggs produce chicks, but know that only half of the eggs are likely to hatch chicks that will still be with us next year.

Perhaps my mealworms will help improve that percentage and the local cats can stay away during fledgling.

More updates tomorrow, with video footage too.

LUCKY SEVEN?

For the fourth day in a row another egg was laid in the great tits' nest, bringing the total to seven. I'm not expecting any more although I thought she would stop at five!

The activity is still following a pattern of the female doing the incubating and calling to the male for confirmation she can leave the nest safely to feed.

The eggs are often left for up to an hour, and although I was worried at first, I'm starting to trust their parenting skills and feel a bit more relaxed about the eggs uncovered for a short time.

I'm starting to put mealworms out for the parents and the first small batch was consumed by all manner of birds, who all swooped in to get their portion; either for themselves or their chicks.

I suspect the robins and blackbirds fed their chicks, while the blue and great tits fed themselves.

Images of the birds and other wildlife will be available in posts over the weekend as I make the most of an extended Easter holiday.

The only difference this year is not all my eggs are made of chocolate.

SIX NOT OUT

I mean six eggs with no chicks out yet.

The sixth egg appeared this morning and as I've not been able to get a clear picture of the eggs tonight I'm unsure as to how many there are now.

I've noticed the parent great tits are leaving the eggs alone for quite a long time, sometimes over an hour, but I guess time will tell if this is normal behaviour or first time parents unsure of what they're doing - a bit like Sarah and I, well more me than Sarah if I'm honest.

As I look at the female now covering and warming the eggs I hope the work and effort she and her partner have put into these eggs pays off.

Putting a camera into their domain (nestbox) was a risk for me and I'm grateful they've accepted it, even if the view isn't quite how I set it up.

With the Easter holidays upon us I hope to give reflective views on 2011 compared to 2010 and 2009.

I'll also be topping up their diet with mealworms and keeping an eye on which other birds are currently parents.

As Sarah and I enjoy out first spring and summer with our daughter, so I hope to share with our birds the joy of parenthood.

HOW MANY EGGS ARE THERE?

Another day and another egg from the great tit female as she broods the five eggs. As the honorary midwife, I've pencilled in a due date of 1st May, although I won't be helping with the births.

I'm so fascinated by the nestbox camera I'm often sat in the lounge just watching what is happening. This week I'll be mainly updating the nestbox activity, but will have a full round up of the other news over the weekend - when I can see them!

The female is often turning over the eggs to ensure they're incubated all around, a very fussy parent-to-be.

This morning she had left the nest to be with her partner and have a feed, but left her eggs covered with soft down and fur to ensure they kept warm - given this very warm weather at the moment she didn't need much fur.

Tomorrow I'll be comparing how the timings of nest building and egg laying have differed from this year to 2010.

I've looked back on my blog last year and despite being delayed in the Canary Islands by the volcanic ash cloud incident, I'm able to give fairly accurate timings of when things happened.

Below is the five eggs as they were at 7.30pm tonight, after the female briefly left the nest. Will I find more in the morning? Tune in tomorrow night to see!

GREAT TITS BRING EARLY EASTER CHEER

Easter has arrived a little early in the great tit nestbox.

In just 12 days the great tits have transformed the empty bare nestbox into a comfy one-bed dwelling, complete with four eggs! The first picture was taken on 7th April.

The video footage below shows the female great tit with just two eggs this morning and by the evening there was four eggs visible. (See above pic) Will there be anymore in the morning?

I particularly like the way the great tit uses fluff in the nest to cover the eggs and keep them at the right temperature.

It's been a fantastic few weeks of watching the great tit female roost in the nest, then suddenly decide to start building a nest, to then the start of laying her eggs.

Being able to watch the intricate, private life of a wild animal is a brilliant experience and setting up this camera has been well worth the effort and patience.

The blog will continue to monitor the lives of my great tits, along with other animal updates, inlcuding where the blue tits have nested and when the blackbird chicks will appear.

In other exciting news, my first parcel of mealworms has arrived, just in time to feed some soon to be hungry mouths.

NESTBOX UPDATE

The great tit's nest is becoming more and more comfortable and tonight I watched it snuggling down.

I almost thought it was rolling the eggs over, but it would have been the quickest egg laying in history as I had only looked at the nest an hour ago!

The builder of the nest is female, and sightings of the male in the nestbox have not been made, although that's not to say he hasn't been around.

When will there be eggs? I'm hoping next week sometime, but I'll bring daily updates here with new pics and video.



So life continues outside the nestbox and eggciting (sorry couldn't resist) news from the blackbirds next door. They appear to be using the same nest in the same bush as last year and this afternoon I noticed one was 'depositing' an empty egg shell on the other side of the house.

I did notice the blue tits looking at the nestbox today but yet again they've been too late. Maybe they'll use the nestbox they've been roosting in or even the hole in the wall next door.

I'm hoping to spend a bit of time in the garden this weekend, and will feedback any news on all the birds.

I'll obviously be focusing on the great tits, blut tits and blackbirds, but will be casting an eye for the swallows, goldfinches, tree sparrows and the male pheasant.

An order for mealworms will also be placed so I'm hoping to find out exactly who has chicks next week.

EGGS AT EASTER?

March and early April brought some lovely weather that seemed to shake the wildlife into a frenzy of activity.

Not only the animals, but plants and trees have literally blossomed in the last few weeks.

The most exciting development has been the recent nest building activity from the great tit that has been 'renting' my nestbox fitted with a camera.

It's given me a view of life in spring of small birds I never thought I'd see.

After weeks of sleeping alone in the bare nestbox, I thought the great tit (I think it's a male) had a mate it would be sharing the night with.

At dusk a two weeks ago they both hung around a couple of trees often glancing at the nestbox, until the resident great tit entered, called for the other one, then gave up and went to sleep as I watched the other bird fly off.

Last Thursday the nest building started and in the series of pictures taken daily below. you can see how quickly and actively the nest has formed. The intricacy in how it's being built is a joy to simply marvel at.

I'll be continuing to update the nest building on a daily basis and hope to soon bring news of some early Easter eggs!

In other news the pond is showing little activity, while the flora of my garden is producing plenty of new plants from bulbs and I'm hoping to have some images up this weekend.

Other birds are busy nest building and generally getting excited about bringing new families into the world.

Finally the first sighting this year of a swallow came on Sunday, a sight I always remember since my primary school days watching swallows bring up youngsters in the barns we had on the farm I live on Wales.

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