All quiet on the north eastern front

Work and school have effectively prevented much monitoring of the nest box this week, beyond a few glances at breakfast.  There is no motion detection software that is compatible with our video converter, so until we get some proper action capturing activity will rely on a little bit of luck. 


However, some internet research has warned us to be patient.  Our 27mm hole is perfectly designed for the Blue Tits examining the box on Sunday morning.  We are lucky they were quickly on the case, as they can spend up to five weeks examining a potential home for their offspring.  We should expect occupants around about first day of Spring (21st March), which is almost exactly five weeks after we installed it.  Perfect.


So, the blog will be fairly quiet for a while, but we have everything crossed for the end of March!

First viewings

The computer was fired up before the tea was brewing this morning, and I narrowly missed hitting record as a prospective customer cautiously peered in.  It didn't matter, because less than five minutes later, we caught this...

By the time breakfast was ready, we had enjoyed a longer visitation, and this time the partner bird was hanging around outside - probably saying the kitchen was too small, or the garden not wide enough...

We've been out for the rest of the day, and it is all quiet now.  Nevertheless, it feels like a great start!

Introduction

After several seasons of compulsively viewing Springwatch, this year we are joining in.  We've combined a gardenature camera nest box with an Elgato video capture dongle and software (Mac of course), and tested the set-up in the comfort of our living room...

So far so good.  Installation was fairly straightforward, it's nest box week so the web is full of assistance.  Basically, sloping slightly forward, and angled between North and East to avoid prevailing rain and direct sun.  The hardest part was enlarging a disused television aerial hole enough to get the chunky wire inside the house, but we managed, and it works by day...

...and by night...

Job done - installed and ready for viewing Saturday 18th February 2012.




Links to our kit here...


The nest box

Elgato video capture (cheaper on Amazon!)