Blue Tit Big Brother

And other stories from the garden

Tag Archive 'nest'

Late hatching

We have great tit chicks in our nestbox today. I’m pretty sure that they weren’t there yesterday evening, which means they are a whole 12 days later than last year’s hatch. Here they are: Take a look at how much more advanced things were on this day last year. It’s certainly been a slow start […]

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They’ve gone!

All the chicks have fledged. Some of them (it’s kind of difficult to count) left the nest yesterday. The rest went first thing this morning, with one chap hanging around on his own for quite a while. It’s the first time the chicks in the nest box haven’t all left on the same day. But […]

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Chicks have hatched

The great tit chicks had hatched this morning, a miserable, cold, wet day. They looked really floppy first thing and we were worried they might not make it because the parents couldn’t get out and find food. Sophie rushed out to buy meal worms, but we think the starlings had them all. Still, by this […]

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Great tits on video

I guess there’s a chance this isn’t what you were expecting when you clicked that link, but this is a blog post about the bird Parus major, the great tit. This year we have a pair of great tits nesting in our big brother nest box. I suppose I ought to change the name of […]

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Bye bye birdies

The blue tit chicks all fledged today. By the time the recorder came on (about 6:30 I think) one had already gone. It was well over two hours later by the time the last one left the nest box, with big gaps between each one. Which doesn’t really make for a nice snappy video clip […]

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Growing fast

There are seven chicks and they’re looking very different in this film to the last one. Their eyes are open, they’re stretching their wings, competing for space and food, being fed very frequently. Oh yes, and pooing frequently too.

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The chicks hatch

Turning the telly on this morning we saw a single chick in the nest. By the time I got home from work there were five. Or at least I think there were. They’re kind of difficult to count—but there were still three eggs of the eight left unhatched. It’s later than we’ve had before, by […]

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Busy day

The blue tits have had a busy day nest building today. Here’s a few minutes out of their day: And this is what they finished up with:

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Spring almost arrived

I did mean to post something on Saturday, but I kind of got distracted. I feel I should record the events of Saturday though, if only so that in future years we can look back and see when it all happened. So, as reported on Twitter, on Saturday 27th March we saw the first signs […]

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Growing fast

The chicks are looking like real mini blue tits now, rather than little ETs. Feathers are well developed and wings are being stretched and fluttered. They’ve still got huge gobs though.

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