Kestrels - Life in the Box 2012!

We have all waited patiently with fingers crossed to see if our pair of buzzards would settle down and raise a family on our webcam nest  but after a lot of early activity they seem to gone to somewhere else. So not to worry here at Arne we have always got something else up our sleaves and I am sure a lot of you will remember our kestrel family from last year. They had a brilliant 2011 by succesfully raising four healthy chicks including the smallest one that worried a few people early on.

We have decided to put this nest back online now and you can also come and watch it in the visitor centre. The female is sitting on 5 eggs at the moment and this is the same as last year although one failed to hatch. We are not sure when she laid her eggs as she was already sitting on the 5 when we turned the camera back on a week ago. However we think she is  at least 2 weeks earlier than last year and the first chick actually hatched on the 21st May 2011. It is a bit difficult to predict when they will hatch but the female will incubate for about 28. So given this information please feel free to have guesses on dates!

To Watch this webcam online follow the link on our main web page or click here  http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/a/arne/webcam.aspx

Don't be confused by the buzzard information still on the page it will be updated in the next couple of days!