Our Kestrels are now live on the Arne website! The female has been sitting on the eggs for 32 days so the first should hatch any time. She seems particularly restless today and sometimes you can even hear the chicks calling from the eggs. Who will be the first to see a hatched chick? It would be great to see everyones observations on this forum so we can keep updated with all the excitement! To see the webcam follow: http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/webcam.aspx
Is it usual for the male bird to be away for this long? I haven't seen him since yesterday evening and he hadn't returned before dark.
10.28 she briefly left the nest! Definately just 1 beautiful little chick and 4 eggs.
Its not unusual for the male to be away for hours at a time, the female will only need one or two feeds a day and the last one appeared to be about 4pm yesterday. Now the first chick has hatched I would expect to start seeing the male a bit more often. The female will stay with chicks as they hatch but when they get larger then both parents will leave to find food. Then the activity should really increase!
Hehe - daddy's back. Mum squawked at him furiously and flew off, returned immediately with something in her mouth then off again. Dad looked at chick with utter bewilderment for a little while. Clearly learns quickly however!
As I just posted the Male has returned with what looked like a field vole. The female has left to eat it and the male is try to work out what that is in his nest now - after looking a bit confused he has now settled down and is sitting on it!
His face was a picture wasn't it when he saw the little chick move!
Just got back to see the male on the nest, female came back to swap revealing one fluffy chick, aghhhh!!
Another vole? The male has clearly upped his work rate.
Looked like a young blue/ great tit......
Male back in again! This time with a blue tit (probably a fledgling). The female has stored it in the corner of the box. Keep your eyes peeled for the first feed! So the male is being a responsible parent after all!