RETURN OF THE TIT CAM

So winter has finally arrived, although only some of the country has seen snow. Yes I'm jealous that my garden has not seen a single snowflake.

Since the start of the proper cold spell, I've noticed that my nestbox camera has been filming something other than the inside of the box.

It coincided with the camera actually working after it stopped emitting images for most of January.

For the last week a great tit has been roosting in the nextbox and I'm hoping it continues to use the nestbox in a similar pattern to 2011.

That's when a great tit roosted from February until it and its mate started nest building int April and the produced eight eggs, before raising and fledging eight chicks.

I doubt if all have survived as the local sparrowhawk can often be seen down the lanes, but I do hope a few have made it to this breeding season.

One thing I do wonder is if this great tit is the same one as last year, though I guess I'll never find out.

I'll be updating this blog more regularly now and hopefully it'll continued to focus on the nestbox camera.

In other news the garden has seen hardly any of the usual visitors, with great tits, blue tits, blackbirds, robins, dunnocks, tree sparrows and house sparrows continuing to visit the garden and my winter handouts of fat balls and peanuts.

Only in the recent cold weather have a witnessed a family of long tailed tits along with a few chaffinches and goldfinches.

Last winter the long tailed tits, greater spotted woodpeckers and jays were commonly seen in my garden, but this year the mild weather has meant natural food supplies are still in stock meaning many birds are not requiring the hand outs from gardens.

Currently the great tit is getting more sleep in one night (14 hours) than I do in two! Luckily I know this will diminish to about five hours per night if chicks are produced.

I love winter, but do enjoy the live and wildlife activity of spring, which is handy because it'll soon be the season of breeding.