The washing up has become a much more interesting, and enjoyable, task over the last few weeks - and it’s getting more interesting by the day...
We have a pair of blue tits nesting in a box that I put on the side of the extension last year. I meant to attach it more securely over the winter, but I didn’t get the chance, so I will be glad when the birds have left and I can firm up the fixings.
So, I’m waiting anxiously for the day when the young fledge and it should be any day now.It will probably happen when I am at work and I’ll miss the moment of exit! I find myself checking the weather hoping my family won’t have to put up with wind and rain, not leaving the house until I have seen the adults visiting the nestbox so I know that no disasters occurred overnight.
I now know that there are two young blue tits in the box. They are coming to the entrance hole now, but the parents soon scold me if I get too close.
Over the weekend, I worked out that the parents were visiting the bax up to three times a minute, which is a frenetic rate of food delivery. If that continued all day, more than 2,000 visits would be made to the box! They kept it up for most of the day so probably wouldn't have been far off. Their rate has slowed now and I wonder if they are trying to lure the young out to find food for themselves.
I know I’m not the only one waiting expectantly, as these pics sent in this week from Nature's Home readers show!
Rebecaa Backhouse sent this photo of a fresh-out-of-the-nest great tit being fed by its parent.
And a scene very like the one currently playing out outside my kitchen window from Stuart Millington
Thanks both for your photos and to everyone else who is sharing their wildlfie moments. Look out for out guide to RSPB nestboxes in the August issue of Nature's Home.
Let us know how the breeding season is palying out for your garden birds. My total so far is two blackbirds and two robins fledged from three nests, so I'm hoping for more.