10th July 2008 - They've gone!

The dove chicks left the nest on Tuesday. The first suddenly disappeared during the day, and the second hung on until early evening before taking the plunge. We didn't see either of them for a while, but one at least was being fed in the tree yesterday evening. Sorry, but since the camera has been on the blink again, so you will not have seen them go. What shall we turn the camera towards next??

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5th July 2008

The chicks have grown up fast, and look nearly ready to leave the nest. They don't seem to be at all worried about the noise from the circuit this weekend!

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22nd June 2008 - Dove chicks hatch!

I went up the ladder again today to realign the lens with the hole in the box(!). Before I started climbing I found an egg shell beneath the nest - and sure enough, when I got to the top I found two ugly little dove chicks in the nest! They seem to be twice the size of the eggs already; and I'm sure they'll grow quickly into handsome little doves very soon...

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14th June 2008 - Dove eggs.

The doves are sitting on the nest again. So I climbed up the ladder this morning to replace the camera where we had it last year. I managed to do this while Mother Dove was off the nest, and it only took a short while because all the fixings were still in place. We were pleased to see she was back on the nest again 5 minutes later.

While I was up there I managed to snap a quick photo - so you can see we have two eggs! She has been incubating them for quite a long time already, so they should be ready to hatch soon. The webcam is back on again - we hope for better luck this time!

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8th June 2008 - An empty box.

Sad news, I'm afraid. Our last little chick died overnight. It's a shame because he seemed to be getting quite adventurous yesterday and was out of the nest cup flapping around the box. But Mum wasn't in the box last night, and when she did return to feed him this morning there was no activity...

We've turned the camera off for now.

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5th June 2008 - And then there were two...

You'll have noticed that we only have two chicks left now. At least, if you can get on the webcam, that is... I've finally discovered that the problem with the stream appearing to go offline is that I've configured the quality too high. It was only allowing one viewer at a time - although that viewer was being treated to super-quality footage! I've now changed it to a slightly lower quality - hopefully still clear enough - but at least more than one person will be allowed to watch.

We've also had another bird in the nest box tonight. Not sure who it is - but probably not Oppit (Daddy Bluetit). Mum didn't seem too bothered - and having seen on Springwatch what can happen when another male appears on the scene, we're a little worried for the safety of our two remaining chicks... Watch this space!

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3rd June 2008 - And then there were three...

It's been raining hard all day today. Maybe that meant Mum has not been able to feed the chicks so regularly - but we've only been able to spot 3 gaping mouths this evening...

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31st May 2008 - All mouth and no feathers...

Sorry, the webcam went offline while we were away on holiday - normal service has now been resumed. Hope you didn't miss too much.

It does seems that the chicks have not fared too well since we left. We spent some time last night checking to see how many mouths we could count - but we think there are only 5. The father also does not seem to be visiting the nest, so we wonder what might have happened to him. Oust is therefore very busy trying to feed them alone. Coupled with the rainy weather, we think this might have led to the demise of the weaker chicks. We are trying to help her out by leaving some mealworms close to the nest.

The five that are left appear to be healthy enough, and are craning open-mouthed towards the sky whenever they hear a sound - whether Mum is present or not!

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24th May 2008 - Happy Birthday Mum!

Another 4 chicks this morning - which means they share a birthday with my Mum - Happy Birthday Mum! Oust and Oppit have been very busy keeping them all fed - what will they do when there's 9 little mouths to feed?

We've had a few problems with the live webcam - if it's not working please bear with us, and we'll try to get it back up & running as soon as possible.

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23rd May 2008 - First chick!

Our first little hatchling appeared this afternoon! We noticed Mum eating the egg shell, and soon spotted the little chick waiting to be fed. The two adults have been back and forth many times since - although she does seem to be struggling to find morsels of food that are small enough for his little beak! When will the next one appear??

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13th May 2008 - 9 eggs!

Thanks to our eagled-eyed viewers at Chipping Warden school, we know there was another egg laid yesterday - making a total of 9. Can anyone count 10 today? Or has she finished laying?

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11th May 2008 - Incubation starts.

8 eggs today - and she seems to have started incubating them! She's on the nest far more frequently - only popping out for a quick snack and then returning.

Meanwhile the Dove chick has left the nest! Seen briefly on the back fence this morning. I'll try to grab a photo if we spot him/her again...

Not one... but two! I managed to snap a picture of both of our dove chicks tonight. Mum & Dad seem to have found them a nice secure place in the tree - which gives much better cover than sitting on the fence in the open.

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9th May 2008 - Still counting...

The Bluetit usually makes a good job of covering her eggs whenever she leaves the nest, but she left them uncovered yesterday evening, and we were able to count 5 - which fits with the one-a-day that we were expecting. We assume there is another one today, though we've not been lucky enough to see it yet. Last year we had 8 eggs, and there could be as many as 12 or 13!

By the way - our provisonal names for the new birds are "Oust" and "Oppit". Appropriate, I hope you'll agree?

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4th May 2008 - First Egg!

The more observant of you will have noticed we have our first egg! But the question is: who laid it? The bird that is currently residing in our nest box is not Beaky - she has been displaced by another bird. Whatever happened (and we didn't see anything) the new bird seems to have got on with the task of egg laying pretty quickly anyway! We are now expecting one egg per day - so look out on Monday morning to see if you can spot another one...

Meanwhile, the blackbirds have flown the nest! They were certainly well developed already when I took the picture below - but we still got a surprise to find the nest empty! We think they've moved over into the woods. The parent's are still visiting the garden, but they soon disappear back over the hedge to feed the young ones. Hopefully they'll pop back to see us again one day.

Finally, we have at least one dove chick. It's not easy to see since the nest is so high up, but one small head is clearly visible. I say "small" - but the chick is already quite a size, and will not be on the nest much longer. We just hope he/she fares better than the last brood...

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1st May 2008 - Blackbirds

I went to feed the birds this morning - and since Mum was away from the nest, I managed to snap a quick photo of our blackbird chicks. Cute, aren't they?

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27th April 2008 - Update

The male bluetit is now visiting the nest regularly too. He never seems to stay long, perhaps he's just getting in practice for the feeding trips - he seems disappointed to find no eggs yet! We've decided to call him "Billy" (Beaky and Billy - geddit?!).

The doves have not been put off by their earlier setbacks, and Mrs Dove is sitting on the nest all day again. We assume she has some eggs, but it's difficult to see now that I've moved the camera back to the bluetit box. We hope they will teach their next offspring to keep out of sight a little better...

Finally, I disturbed another nest while hacking pruning the pampas grass yesterday. There were a couple of fairly well developed chicks present. Of course I stopped immediately, and set about providing them with a little more privacy with some carefully placed pampas grass fronds - hopefully this will restore some of the cover that I had unceremoniously removed! It seems to have worked, because mother blackbird has been seen sitting on the nest today. We'll keep you updated.

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23rd April 2008 - Fisticuffs!

Another bluetit showed some interest in the nest box this afternoon. We don't know who was in the box first, but our "Beaky" (we decided to give her a name, based on her abnormally long and slightly deformed beak) was joined briefly by a stranger. It quickly developed into a full-scale battle - and fortunately Beaky soon established the upper hand beak... We feared for the life of the other bird at one stage - but she made a rapid escape. It looks as though Beaky is fully able and prepared to defend her nest.

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21st April 2008 - Nest Building

At long last - the Bluetits have started nest building! Some material appeared in the box yesterday evening, and they have been very busy making return trips today. We've left some handy scraps nearby to help them out..!

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7th April 2008

We fear the worst for our second dove chick. No obvious evidence this time - but she has not been seen in the garden since Friday. The parents are still around, and seem intent on starting a new brood at soon as possible...

Meanwhile the blue tit is still roosting every night, though she seems reluctant to start nest building, in spite of the material we've helpfully provided! And we now have a new robin nesting box, and a sparrow terrace. Hopefully the estate agents are busy showing round new tennants.

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3rd April 2008

The dove chicks are fine. Still in the tree this morning - both of them - and parents still fussing over them. Thankfully, no sign of the Sparrowhawk.

Oh dear. Spoke too soon. One chick, and one pile of feathers this evening.

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2nd April 2008

Our dove chicks left the nest today (that's the one they built behind our satellite dish). We could see that they'd grown to quite a size - but it was still a surprise to come home and find them - one sitting in the tree, the other on the fence! The parents were both very attentive - flying down to feed them regularly. They seemed to be trying to encourage them back to the nest as it got dark. One of the chicks seemed to be a fairly confident flyer, but the other was more hesitant - and is probably due to spend the night on the fence. We hope the Sparrowhawk doesn't make an early morning visit, or our dove will be a sitting duck...

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1st April 2008 - Blue Tit Log

We've had the camera plugged in again since just before Easter. It's been live on t'internet since my new 10m cable turned up during the last week of March. There was some "house hunting" activity over the Easter weekend - and we were pleased to have our first overnight roost on Tuesday 26th March. We wonder if it's one of the chicks that hatched from the same box last year?! Since then she has been in the box every night, usually appearing by about 7:00pm, and asleep 5 minutes later! In spite of frequent daytime visits from both male and female, there is no sign of nest-building activity yet - aside from the head-down, wings-spread fluttering - as though practising for the hard work to come...

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