Leaving the Nest

This weekend I was lucky to be there when the bluetit chicks fledged from the nestbox at my parents-in-law's house.

Thinking of leaving home?

After much deliberation, this chick takes the plunge

First time out in the big bad world

With the constant effort of feeding the kids, the adults can end up looking pretty ragged

More Garden Bird Photography

With practice I am getting better at capturing photos of the birds coming to the feeders in the garden. These are taken though the kitchen window, allowing me to be quite close without scaring off my subjects.

A starling on my fat ball feeder

Bluetit on feeder. Hardly any bigger than the fat balls.

Hatching Bluetits

I've put up a few nest boxes in the garden and I am monitoring them as part of the national nest recording survey run by the Britsh Trust for Ornithology (www.BTO.org). Here are some photographs of one of the boxes, which a bluetit has nested in.

5th May, the eggs are hatching

6th May, 7 eggs hatched now

7th May, 7 hungry mouths

12th May: Still 7 mouths if you look carefully

16th May: How many chicks now? It is getting harder to count them.

19th May: One chick appears to be developing feathers slower than the others.

21st May: 6 or 7 chicks? It is getting crowded in there!

24th May: Too big to all fit in the nest cup now, and there are only 6 I can see. Mostly ready to fledge apart from one which looks less well developed than the others.

The next time I came to check the box they had all gone.