Hi - would love a bit of expert advice on Blue tit nesting. We put up a bird box in February and we've enjoyed watching a pair of bluetits building a nest in it over the last few weeks. Its now the end of May. We were expecting/hoping they would lay eggs and that we'd have fledgling bluetits. We stayed clear of the box and just watched the pair go in and out all day so assumed that the female must have laid some eggs. So much activity of them coming and going for the last few weeks.
Then last weekend we went away for the night and came back yesterday and the bluetits are gone. Not seen them for 2 days now. We know there are cats in the area and that they come in our garden when we are not around. We finally took a peak inside the nest box and found a nest in there but no eggs or sign of any. So we're a little puzzled. Did the blue tits get spooked by a cat and decide to leave? did they get killed perhaps? if they were spooked, might they come back? is it now too late for any bluetits to raise a new brood? would any other blue tits come and take advantage of the ready-made nest? should we just leave the nest in the box til the end of the Summer? or clean the nesting box?
would love to hear some expert advice on this
thanks
Hi Jonny, I am not an expert but from what I have learned and read, this is what I think. You say you had seen activity for weeks and on looking no eggs, it could be that if the timing was right, there were eggs that hatched and they have fledged. I would have thought that you would have seen or heard them in the trees or garden. They may have made a nest and decided to go elsewhere, birds will do this. For the nest to be predated by a cat, it would need easy access to the box. Other birds magpies and woodpeckers and squirrels would attack a box. Do you have any of those around? Never an easy answer when really you do not know? Regards the box, leave it alone for now, you should empty and clean boxes after summer, October time, so they are ready for roosting in the winter and ready for next spring. I have attached a link for you to read about Blue Tits. www.google.com/url
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
thanks so much - its in relatively easy reach of a cat unfortunately. The box is sealed but its only about 6 feet up and well within reach of a determined cat. We don't have magpies or woodpeckers here and squirrels are pretty rare. Its cats we mostly see. My theory is a cat may have hidden and grabbed the female as she was arriving or leaving the box, and then the male may have decided to leave as a result. I have some footage from my animal camera and one very short piece of video shows what could be a tail feather stuck to the outside of the nest box, its a short clip and not easy to tell what it is. After this clip there are a couple of clips of a bluetit looking out from the box and then later a clip of a bluetit bringing a caterpillar, and then nothing after that.