Any one speak Blue Tit??

I have finally managed to get the sound working on the nest camera.  Nothing wrong with the camera just the software that records the video footage messing about.  It's now solved and more importantly we have sound before the chicks hatch.  Video is great but you need sound to get a full idea of what is going on.

Mrs Blue Tit is incubating the eggs.  She does all of this on her own.  Mr Blue Tit never incubates.  With some larger birds the male takes his turn.  Mr Blue Tit will bring her food and call to her from outside the nestbox.  She will then leave the box for up to 5 minutes to stretch her wings, poo, eat and drink.  As the weather is warm at the moment she has the luxury of not worrying about the eggs getting cold.  She will also turn the eggs regularly.

The following video was recorded early this morning.  As it is cooler in the morning she won't leave the eggs but she still needs breakfast.

She will then turn the eggs on a regular basis.

No sign of Mrs Hog last night.  I cannot disturb the hog house so we will just have to wait and see what happens. Two male hogs in for food.

That's all folks

So the total is 8 eggs.  None were laid this morning and Mrs Blue Tit is now incubating.  Hatching will take place in 13-15 days so that will be around 4th May.  It is possible that all or only some of the eggs will hatch.  In two weeks time we will know.  I've also now managed to get the sound to record from the nestcam so future videos will include sound.  The chicks make a lot of noise.

Mr Blue Tit will call from the apple tree and Mrs will answer from the nestbox.  Sometimes he will bring food to her or she will briefly leave the nest and met him at the tree. Incubating eggs doesn't make good videos as not a lot happens.  Mrs Blue Tit will stay covering the eggs and will regularly turn the eggs.

Out in the garden there is a possibility of hoglets.  Mrs Hog has moved into the hod house and built a nest.  A sure sign of baby hogs being on the way.  If she does have some they won't be seen for 4 weeks.  The nest must not be disturbed as mum can abandon the hoglets or even hill them.  So there will not be any pictures or videos.

Mrs Blue Tit.  The feathers on the back of her neck are already wearing away where she keeps going in/out of the nestbox.  Once the chicks hatch and she is feeding them she will get even more tatty.

Mr Blue Tit bringing his misses a caterpillar.

Mrs Blue Tit leaving the nestbox to collect her caterpillar.

Mrs Blue Tit on the left having taken the caterpillar from Mr Blue Tit on the right.  I missed the actual food pass.  The food pass is part of the pair bonding.

More eggs - what will the final total be?

Mrs Blue Tit is still laying eggs.  Good Friday produced Egg number 7 and today Egg number 8.  Will there be more?

Number 6

The 6th egg arrived at 5.38am this morning.:

Mrs Blue Tit's behaviour slightly changed this morning.  She always stays on the nest for 20-30mins after each egg has been laid.  This morning she left as usual after that time but then returned for a further 30 mins.  I thought incubation had started.  But she then left and has only returned with some more feathers.  So I think there is going to be at least another couple of eggs.

Eggciting week

Mrs Blue Tit is doing really well.  We now have 5 eggs.  She is laying every morning between 5.30am-6.30am.  She seems to be laying the eggs c10 minutes earlier each morning.  Due to work I was not able to post yesterday so the 4th Egg is here:

She kept egg number 4 very covered so it was difficult to see.

This morning egg number 5 arrived:

Once she moved out of the way the 5 eggs were very easy to see.

Everyone is guessing how many eggs there will be. So far the guess are:

Craig                     16 eggs (I think Mrs Blue Tit will hope that you are wrong)
Karis                     11 eggs (possible)
Suzanne & Jo          9 eggs (highly likely)
Ellie & I                  8 eggs (same as last year)
Malcolm & Lisa      6 eggs (you'll find out tomorrow)

There are occasions when not all the eggs will hatch.  Last year 8 eggs were laid but only 3 eggs hatched.  So once we known the total number of eggs we can start guess how many chicks will hatch.  Mrs Blue Tit will start incubating the eggs the day before the last egg is laid.  So those of you guessing 6 eggs are probably wrong as there was no sign of her incubating the eggs today.

Hedgehogs are still in/out of the garden all night.  The fox activity has quietened down but I did catch this footage Monday  night.  Wasn't sure who was going to win this fight at first:

At the end the fox suddenly remembered that he was a member of the Canid family and therefore should be chasing cats.

Egg number 3

Mrs Blue Tit is getting good at this.  She laid Egg number 3 at 5.50am today.  She's getting earlier each day but is still laying between 5.30-6.30am.

She has tucked the nestcup into the corner of the nestbox.  Last year I was able to adjust the angle of the camera before the eggs were laid.  This year that has not been possible as she went straight from finishing the nest to laying the eggs.  I do not want to disturb her in any way plus it is an offence under the Countryside and Wildlife Act 1981 to knowingly disturb a nest.

It was much harder to see the 3 eggs this morning.  She is keeping them well covered.  The following video has been edited to show her laying the egg and then the brief glimpse of all 3 eggs.  After laying the eggs she stays on the nest for 20-30 minutes.

Egg number 2

Mrs Blue Tit roosted in the nestbox Saturday evening keeping Egg1 safe.  She will not start incubating until the penultimate egg.

Egg2 arrived at 6.10am on Sunday 17th April 2011.

Last year the female laid 8 eggs but then discarded one of them. Only 3 went onto hatch.

The foxes are still in each night.

The Greywags are visiting although the female only comes in early morning. I suspect that she has laid eggs as well.





Exciting week.

The Blue Tit's nesting building stepped up a gear last weekend.  By Monday 11th April they had started to bring lining into the nestbox.  Last year the female started roosting in the nestbox overnight on 10th April.  However she had got herself stuck above the false ceiling in the box and I had to rescue her.  The box has to have a false ceiling to keep the camera cables out of the way.

No sign of Mrs Blue Tit roosting this year until Friday 15th April.

I had put the outside camera out as normal. I was expecting the first egg around 21st April compared to last years dates.  I was wrong.  I woke up at 5.18am on Satuday 16th April and decided to change the cameras over.  I can only record one camera at a time. So I went back to bed leaving nestcam recording.

At 6.30am Mrs Blue Tit laid her first egg.

Last year there was a gap of 24 hours before the second egg was laid. Thereafter an egg was laid each day giving a total of 8. Unfortunately only 3 eggs hatched last year and then one chick died.  I'm hoping this year will be better.