And now for something completely different; some pictures and videos from my garden nest box camera in north east England. A pair of cute Blue Tits moved in and are currently feeding 9 tiny chicks. I say currently as last year there were 7 however sadly due to lack of suitable food during a wet cold spring they all eventually expired. Hatching is timed for the the abundance of ‘tent caterpillars’ on new leaf growth which is the perfect food for growing chicks. Luckily this year everything’s going well with huge amounts of juicy green caterpillars being brought in by Mum & Dad. Nature is tough and anything could go wrong so fingers crossed and I will post updates.
Have had nest boxes up at least 30yrs, usually home made and always entertaining. The clever camera box was a 50th birthday present from my son and adds a wonderful extra dimension. After watching them fly in and out for so long it’s fascinating to watch what happens inside. The box came with small perspex side windows to increase light and colour for the webcam however the birds weren’t happy with this and only nested after I boarded these up. Possibly this feels more secure against potential crows, magpies, woodpeckers & squirrels – not that I get the latter two. Consequently pictures are a little dim with infra-red in low light giving no colour. Initially these are photos and videos of my television screen, some are via the laptop, I’ll try to improve the technology. It’s easy to set up, I’ll do a full blog on this later. Enjoy the journey 🙂
Here’s two videos from last spring as they show the first stages with the female inspecting the box then starting nest building. She roosts in the box over winter yet still gives it a thorough check every Spring;-
Photos from Spring 2014 up to the first week of hatching;
Videos from Spring 2014
Link to Week Two in the Blue Tit Box and the final Week Three – Have they gone yet?
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