Spurred on by the Feed the Birds thread, I thought I’d share a few pics and videos of a pair of blue tits who have decided to nest in my front garden bird box.
This is George and Mildred:
They’ve been building a nest since mid March. Mildred does most of it, and spent hours taking stuff in, then out again then back in. She’s very fussy. At one point I wondered if she was bringing it in and another blue tit was stealing it, because it wasn’t getting any bigger.
Finally last week the nest started to look like it was taking shape.
She even brought in what looks like red feathers at the weekend - no idea where she got them from:
On Monday she spent most of the day making sure the nest “cup” was perfect.
And then finally, yesterday, we woke up to see this:
I’ve been Googling a lot - apparently blue tits lay one egg every day, first thing in the morning. They lay up to 10 eggs, then incubate them for 16 days, at which point George will bring caterpillars to feed Mildred while she sits. George could have a few lasses on the go at once apparently.
The babies will be ready to leave the nest after three weeks. I’m not getting hopes up, as many will die, but it’s quite fun watching them. I’ll post updates as we go.
This is George and Mildred:
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They’ve been building a nest since mid March. Mildred does most of it, and spent hours taking stuff in, then out again then back in. She’s very fussy. At one point I wondered if she was bringing it in and another blue tit was stealing it, because it wasn’t getting any bigger.
Finally last week the nest started to look like it was taking shape.
She even brought in what looks like red feathers at the weekend - no idea where she got them from:
On Monday she spent most of the day making sure the nest “cup” was perfect.
And then finally, yesterday, we woke up to see this:
Logon or register to see this image
I’ve been Googling a lot - apparently blue tits lay one egg every day, first thing in the morning. They lay up to 10 eggs, then incubate them for 16 days, at which point George will bring caterpillars to feed Mildred while she sits. George could have a few lasses on the go at once apparently.
The babies will be ready to leave the nest after three weeks. I’m not getting hopes up, as many will die, but it’s quite fun watching them. I’ll post updates as we go.
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