So, Saturday afternoon - the rain is now tipping down, and every sensible Blue Tit in SW London is sheltering somewhere else. However, lots to report, and the signs are looking good...
Firstly, she is still roosting every night. We thought once it got warmer she might stop, but she has come in every night for the last two weeks. She is getting slightly later each evening, and makes frequent trips in and out before settling down. I won't waste your bandwidth - the videos below are completely typical.
Secondly, we are now Blue Tit experts, having devoured the excellent British Tits by Christopher Perrins. I think it is out of print, but Amazon sell a Kindle version, and it is compulsive reading. Best of all it explains a number of things we have seen - starting with the fact that the female roosts in the nest box for a couple of weeks prior to nesting!
Firstly, she is still roosting every night. We thought once it got warmer she might stop, but she has come in every night for the last two weeks. She is getting slightly later each evening, and makes frequent trips in and out before settling down. I won't waste your bandwidth - the videos below are completely typical.
Secondly, we are now Blue Tit experts, having devoured the excellent British Tits by Christopher Perrins. I think it is out of print, but Amazon sell a Kindle version, and it is compulsive reading. Best of all it explains a number of things we have seen - starting with the fact that the female roosts in the nest box for a couple of weeks prior to nesting!
One other behavioural feature Perrins describes is the way the female rubs her stomach on the floor and pushes the nesting material to the side with her feet. Perfectly demonstrated in today's nest building clip:
And yes, that is firstly a shed load of nesting material you see, and secondly it is quite different in nature from the pieces of moss she has been taking in and out for the last week or so.
We have concluded that we have new Blue Tits - this is their first breeding season, and they are having to work everything out from first principles. They appear to be getting the hang of it though, and they are around for big chunks of the day.
Finally, our nest box is now part of a real scientific survey. The British Trust for Ornithology have a nest box survey, and we are contributing daily data. Anyone can help, so if you have a box, here is the link...
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