The perfect brood
| 17:59 UK time, Tuesday, 23 June 2009
I was walking through the garden the other day wondering where my regular family of blue tits has disappeared to...
The weeks passed by and the 'deluxe' accommodation I'd provided at vast personal expense to myself - (my wife thought I'd gone potty when I spent £9 on a bird box) remained lifeless.
My family of blue tits were nowhere to be seen...
- Had my neighbour tempted them away with a more expensive, more inviting looking bird box?
- Perhaps the local tom cat had got his paws on one of the adult birds? Unlikely...as he weighs around 4 stone and actually sits and ponders the fence jump everyday, weighing up his chances of making it, but he might have just gotten lucky?
- Or perhaps mother nature had simply killed them off during the cold snap we had, earlier in the year?
All was revealed when I returned from my Springwatch adventure to the sound of little chirps.
Whenever I approached the sound, it stopped so it took me a while to locate them, but there they were. Under my nose the whole time.
But wait! These weren't blue tits, they were bigger and had black crowns with long black tails - great tits. I was initially a bit saddened to find my blue feathery chums had not come back this year. They've raised successful broods now for the past 3 years.
ÌýBut great tits seem to be rarer these days and are something new to study and I've a sneaky feeling the blue tits are close by in an old tree next door...
I then wondered how they squeezed in through a hole designed for smaller birds? Upon closer inspection I can see that the cheeky little so and so's have pecked away at the wood to widen the gap!
Judging from the noise the chicks are making and the frequency of the feeding trips, the birds should fledge soon so I'll try and get a photo.
One things for sure - I won't miss the jackdaw family nesting in my chimney that delight in waking me up at dawn everyday!
So what have you got nesting in your garden at the moment?
Let me know in the comments area below and send in your photos to our ..
Gull
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