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.