27th April

Unfortunately, we haven’t seen the female blue tit for a couple of days now and we think something must have happened to her. The male blue tit still visits reguarly, calling all the time looking for his mate. It’s a sad end but it looks like the end for Box 1 this year. We will still work on getting other garden cameras up onto the Live Console in the next week or so.

19th April

A month since our last update and a lot has been going on! The female Blue Tit has been very busy over the past couple of weeks building her nest, starting with soft moss and grass and over the last couple of days finishing off with some nice soft feathers! Looking at the dates, we reckon this family are about a week behind last year so egg laying should start next week (fingers crossed!). We will keep you posted as soon as we see things starting to happen!

18th March

The Blue Tits are still visiting the garden regularly during the day and one of the pair continues to roost in the box overnight! They have been experimenting with nest material which gets brought in and then taken out again!

The Top camera in Box 1 has now been fixed and added onto the Live Console!

13th March

It is that time again where things are starting to happen in the garden and the wildlife is looking for a place to raise a family. We currently have a pair of resident blue tits who visit the garden daily checking out our main bird box. One of the pair roosts in the box overnight and has been doing so for a couple of months.

Cameras and cabling are still being updated and as they are completed, they will be added to our Live! Console which is now up and running

If you are looking to get your own nest box camera, we can highly recommend taking a look at this website as they offer a wide range of different boxes with cameras for very reasonable prices!

31st May

It was a busy morning for the parent Blue Tits, bringing in lots of food to the remaining 7 chicks, whilst also feeding the 2 fledglings. By 8.20am, 2 more chicks had fledged, leaving 5 in the nest. The next left at 8.45 and the final 4 had all fledged by 9.05am. They have been seen around the garden and surrounding area with the parents getting food from our feeders. One little chick, the last to fledge, has been hopping around all the pots and plants in the garden.

30th May

At 9.10 this morning, the first of the 9 Blue Tit chicks took the leap out from the box into the big wide world! Both parents were on hand with mealworms feeding the chick and trying to entice the others from the nest. However, this didn’t seem an easy task as the remaining chicks much prefered their box. A little while later at 10.25am, the second chick made the jump and flew across the garden to the hedge. We were expecting the others to follow suit during the rest of the day, however, it is now 9pm and there are still 7 chicks in the box! We expect these to fledge tomorrow.

24th May

9 chicks are growing up fast and are now sounding very much like their parents. They have all taken to exploring the box now and leaving the nest cup during the day which makes feeding quite difficult for the parents as they hardly have a chance to get in the box before the food is snatched!

We modified our Mealworm feeder slightly as the Blue Tits hadn’t really used it by replacing the hole and perspex on the front with a piece of 25mm chicken wire. The Blue Tits were down within an hour of changing the box and quickly emptied it of mealworms!

22nd May

Another week has passed very quickly and the chicks are growing up just the same! There are 9 chicks in the Blue Tit nest and all of them are being fed by both parents. Yesterday, some of the chicks spilled out of the nest cup and started exploring the rest of the nest box. Eventually, all of the chicks were huddled together just underneath the entrance hole, making the parents confused as they flew in expecting to see all their chicks in the nest cup! The male blue tit even started feeding chicks perched on the outside of the box through the hole. The amount of noise from the box is increasing each day, so much so that the microphones don’t need to be on to hear the blue tit chicks from the house!

16th May

Well it has been a few days since our last diary post and things so far have been going well in Box 1. Both parents are in and out with food for the chicks. We are still struggling to see all the chicks. We believe all 10 chicks hatched and we have seen all 10 a couple of times but they never stay still long enough to check all the time! Although we put out Mealworms for the birds, the Blue Tit’s don’t really seem interested this year and are quite happy finding the natural grubs and caterpillars on the trees and bushes nearby.

11th May

Overnight, we think another 2 eggs have hatched bringing the total to 8 chicks. We can see two eggs that have not hatched yet but it is hard to see if there are anymore! We will keep checking and let you know as soon as we find out!

10th May

When the cameras switched on at 7am this morning, two of the eggs had hatched and the parents were in and out with food! In the next few hours, 4 more eggs hatched, bringing the total up to 6 chicks. Both parents have been very busy bringing in grubs and caterpillars. The female has spent quite a lot of time sitting on the chicks and diving in the nest checking all the time!

29th April

The female Blue Tit has spent the last few days sitting on her eggs, starting to incubate them. However, this has not stopped her laying a couple more eggs! We are now up to 10 eggs in Box 1. We think this will probably be it and she will now start the process of incubating the eggs. The male Blue Tit has been very good so far bringing in lots of food to the nest for the female, which should hopefully be good when the chicks hatch.

26th April

Well the Blue Tit’s have been busy and the nest now boasts 7 eggs! Both the male and the female keep coming back to the box during the day checking on the nest and adding feathers. We are expecting probably a couple more eggs before she starts sitting on the eggs.

20th April

After a couple of weeks of busy nest building, the first egg was seen in Box 1 this evening. The Blue Tit spent a lot of time around 6 o’clock this evening, and when she popped out, there was the egg!

24th March

We haven’t seen a lot of the Blue Tit’s recently in the garden or the boxes so we think we will not be having any nesting birds this year in any of our boxes which is a shame!

20th March

Both Blue Tits have been around in the garden a lot over the past couple of weeks, checking out all of the boxes and even trying to get through some of the house windows!!! The female has started bringing in bits of nesting material into Box 1, but as soon as her back is turned, the male comes along and takes it out again!

Last night, one blue tit was roosting in the box (not quite sure whether it was the male or female) and the other of the pair kept trying to come in as well. However, the roosting blue tit didn’t take too kindly to this and there was a little scrap between them.

2nd March

The pair of Blue Tit’s have been around the garden a lot, checking out the other boxes and vigorously pecking away at the hole of Box 1. They seem to do this every year, possibly testing the quality of the box, or maybe they would just like a larger hole!!

One of the pair (probably the male) still roosts in the box overnight and we hope that in the next few weeks we will see some sign of nest building!!

24th February

The pair of Blue Tit’s have been very busy in the garden checking out the bird boxes, but still have a strong interest in Box 1. The male continues to roost at night and we occasionally see the female looking in just before bedtime, which he does not appear to be too happy about!

22nd February

There has been a lot of activity in Box 1 with a pair of Blue Tit’s clearing out the box, pecking at the hole and generally inspecting the box and surroundings. The male still roosts in the box overnight and visits often during the day, but quickly leaves if the female is in sight!

6th May

Unfortunately, the female did not return last night to cover her chicks, and looking at the cameras this morning, all the chicks have passed away. The male is still about bringing back food and is obviously a bit confused and it is very sad to watch as he tries to call to his mate and his chicks. We will clear the dead chicks out and see if anything happens but it may be the end for Box 1 this year.

We are still keeping watch on all the garden birds and the Live Streaming cameras will be back online shortly

3rd May

Well, most of the eggs have hatched in Box 1 and we think that there are 9 or 10 chicks but we can’t be sure as it is very hard to see! If you have an idea or have seen it clearly on the webcams let us know!!! If you could give a time and date as well we may be able to find some video. Both parents have been very busy bringing in small grubs and insects to feed their hungry chicks. It is very interesting watching this end both of the camera angles as you can see clearly from the side camera the parents feeding the chicks.

1st May

The eggs have started hatching today! At 4.28 this afternoon, the first chick hatched. The female spent quite a while mothering the chick and eating the egg shell. A little while later, at 5.48pm,  there was more egg shell eating by the female and the second chick hatched! We will keep an eye out for more hatchings!

21st April

The female Blue Tit has been in Box 1 for most of today. However, during one of her occasional trips out to stretch her wings, we had a look at the nest and counted 12 eggs! This is a record number for Box 1 as there was only 8 last year and 11 before that. The male has been very busy finding more food from around the garden and the surrounding area to bring to the female, sitting on the eggs in Box 1.

20th April

Well we were wrong about the eggs as there are two more now making the total 11 in Box 1. The female is now incubating the eggs and has been seen in the box for most of the day, leaving every now and then for a little stretch! The male has been around a lot in the garden bringing in food for the female ranging from food from the feeders to small bugs found in the trees and bushes around!

18th April

There are currently 9 eggs in Box 1 and we think that is the final amount as the female Blue Tit was in the nest today tidying up and the eggs are now clearly visible. She has also been turning the eggs and sitting on them a lot today. We have a couple of pictures below and we will update them when we get some more!

15th April

Sorry for the lack of updates at the moment. It has been a very busy week and there hasn’t been much time to update the website! We have also had a couple of problems with the camera lighting in Box 1. The white LED’s that provide the colour enhancement during the day started to flicker and looked as if they were going to give up on us. Therefore, last night whilst the Blue Tit was out, we took down the Box 1 Camera Cover and replaced it with the Box 2 Camera cover with the Black and White camera in whilst we fixed the other one. This at least let us know when the bird was in the box or not! Now, the lights have been changed and the problem solved and the box lid went back up this morning.

Yesterday we saw 5 eggs in the box but we are having trouble at the moment seeing if there is a 6th one this morning as the Blue Tit really covers her eggs with nesting material so they are not on show. We will check later as we have the proper cameras back in the box and will update this page a bit later!

10th April

We have our first egg in box 1 this year! Looking at the computer this morning, we saw a small speckled white blob at the bottom of the nest and we first thought it was a feather but after closer inspection, it is an egg! This is 20 days earlier than 2006 and 10 days earlier than 2005. This could be to do with the warmer climates now as the blue tits do time their egg hatching to coincide with caterpillars and bugs being available.

8th April

The Blue Tits have eased off with the nesting material at the moment, giving the impression that the nest is more or less finished. However, they are still about and we have seen one blue tit taking a look at the mealworm feeder we have put back up in the garden. This is good news because it should hopefully mean that when they have their young, they know there will be a supply of food available to them, providing of course that the sparrows don’t invade the feeder as they did last year!!

4th April

A nice sunny day today but with a chilly wind meant that we were not in the garden as much allowing the Blue Tits to bring in more nesting material. They are bringing in some sort of hair and feathers, making the main nest cup very soft! The female Blue Tit was seen sorting out the main nest, spending a lot of time in the middle, checking and sorting out the material around, making sure that it is suitable. Later on, at 7.15pm, the female Blue Tit came in and settled down and looked as if she went to sleep and we thought our rooster was back, but a quarter an hour later, she woke up and left the nest. However, at 7.44pm, she came back in and settled down for the night.

3rd April

Not as much activity today in Box 1, but the Blue Tits have still been seen bringing in nesting material. The pair were seen early this morning at around 6.10am pecking at the hole of the box and eventually started bringing in material about 30 minutes later. The rate of material coming in is a lot slower now and they are obviously being more selective about what material is brought into the box as they do not take out half as much as they did a few days ago

28th March

There is continued Nest Building in Box 1 today as both birds continue to bring in lots of material from the garden. Both the male and the female often sit on the bird box wires outside box 1 and check before they enter with their beak full of moss, checking that no-one (except the cameras!!) is watching. There is quite a definite shape to the nest now and the nest cup can be seen right at the back of the box in the centre. Last year, the nest cup was a bit further forward but we are not sure if these birds are related to last year in any way!

27th March

Nest Building started today at 9.10 this morning, a day earlier than last year. Both the male and the female have been seen bringing in moss nesting material which they are finding from our lawn! By the end of the day, they had both brought in a significant amount of material and started sorting through, picking out bits they weren’t happy with! We hope all goes well and they finish the nest in the next few days!

20th March 2007

There hasn’t been a lot of activity in the boxes today, but at 9.56 this morning, the male blue tit was seen in Bird Box 1 pecking the hole from both inside and outside, then a few minutes later, the female appeared and they did a very brief changeover. The female was then inside for a few more minutes, checking all the corners of the box, and doing a few nesting shuffles, before leaving when the male appeared on the outside.

7th March

There is still lots of interest in Bird Box 1. A pair of Blue Tits have been seen around the nest box but only ever one goes in at a time! They seem to be house hunting though as they have been seen looking at other boxes in the garden! Box 4 is currently getting more interest but we hope something nests in Box 1 this year!

17th February

At present, we have lost our Blue Tit rooster in Bird Box 1 but hope he/she will be back soon as it has been seen checking out the box every morning around 9 o’clock! The day after we cleared out the box and changed the camera inside was the last time the blue tit roosted but we hope it is only temporary and it will be back soon!

13th February

We cleared out the Blue Tit box today as the nest was getting a bit contaminated with waste! We have also made some additions to the the cameras and lighting in the box so we should get the best pictures yet hopefully! The Technical section of the website has now been updated with new sample videos, photos and information.

24th January

The Blue Tit is still roosting in the box, as he/she has been for many months now. There are some small problems with the lighting in this bird box at the moment, but we hope to fix it this weekend. The bird leaves at around 7.30 every morning and return at around 4.30. So far, there haven’t been many visits during the day

8th June

Today two chicks fledged successfully from Box 1. The first left the nest at 8.11am whilst the second left at 12.25pm. The single parent has been seen with the chicks in a neighbouring garden feeding them from our feeders. However, the chicks have not stayed in our garden so we may not be able to catch them on camera, although we will try!

1st June

The young Blue Tits have been testing their wings in the nest today whilst the female is bringing in lots of food from our feeders and neighbouring gardens. The young birds are just about opening their eyes and in the next couple of days, this should be more apparent. It will probably be in the next week or so that these young birds grow up very quickly and fledge the nest. We all have our fingers crossed and hope they all fledge successfully.

30th May

Unfortunately there are only 3 chicks in the nest and there is only the female bringing in food. The male disappeared about a week ago and the female has been very busy feeding the chicks. However, she has not managed to keep feeding all of them so there are now only three which she has been regularly feeding with small insects, caterpillars and more commonly, fat from the fat balls hanging on the feeders.

21st May

There are currently seven healthy chicks in the nest. The two parents are busy in and out feeding them all of the day. The female does spend some time sitting on the nest when the temperature drops. There is still one egg in the nest that hasn’t hatched and it is unlikely to now.

18th May

At 5.05 this afternoon, the first egg hatched! The female was seen eating up the egg shell and then we saw the little chick as she moved off the nest cup. In the following minutes, we then saw the next egg hatch.

12th May

The female blue tit has been incubating the eggs for most of the day today. Checking back on the video footage recorded, she has been checking the eggs, rearranging them and keeping them covered up. However, she has left the nest for short periods in the day which has allowed us to get some good shots of all 8 eggs. Providing all goes well, we estimate hatching mid next week so keep looking at the website for more updates.

11th May

Eight Eggs are the final amount for Box 1. The female is now incubating the eggs whilst the male is kept busy feeding her with little grubs and caterpillars from the garden. However, they have not found our mealworm feeder unlike the sparrows and robins.

8th May

We are not sure if there are eight or nine eggs in the nest today due to the female not leaving the nest for very long. However, when she did, we could only see eight for definite but there could have been another one underneath. If eight is the final number, she may be properly incubating the eggs now.

6th May

Seven eggs can now be seen in the bird box. The female sits on the eggs for long periods in the day whilst the male continues to feed her small caterpillars and insects. The female does leave the nest but not for very long. When all the eggs are laid, the female will incubate the eggs all the time until they hatch.

3rd May

There are four eggs now visible in the Box. The Female is sitting on the eggs for some parts of the day whilst the male is feeding her, however, she will not fully incubate the eggs until they are all laid. We will keep you updated with as much news as possible

1st May

There are now two eggs in Bird Box 1. We will be keeping an eye out for more and will keep this diary page regularly updated now due to more activity in the box.

17th April

Again, the two Blue Tits have been around near the nest box and feeders, but never going in the box together. Over on the other side of the garden, two sparrows have been taking in nesting material into Box 3, the single sparrow box. It was around this time last year that the first egg was laid so we will keep waiting to see if anything happens!

14th April

Two Blue Tits have been seen around the nesting box today. One keeps bringing in nesting material to the box. The other usually waits outside, either on another box or on the camera cables! Last year, eggs were seen on the 20th April so we are getting near, so fingers crossed. We will add more to this diary very soon!

March 8th 2004 was the first sightings of the Blue Tit in Bird Box 1. A pair were seen taking nesting material to the box for a long time. Unfortunately, a camera was not in the box at the time so therefore, no footage. However a camera was mounted outside the box and some footage of the birds going in and out was recorded.

Soon, sounds of baby birds was heard from the box and the parents were kept busy feeding the youngsters. When the younger birds fledged the nest, there was only two which is unusual for blue tit’s who usually have a brood of around 8.

In September 2004, a camera was put inside the bird box and activity was monitored. On the 1st of October, a blue tit was seen in the box for a brief period. After that, the blue tit roosted in the box every night and still does today.

In March/April 2005, a pair of blue tits were frequently visiting the nest box with nesting material and continued to build a nest, after removing the last one themselves.

The Diary