Total panic when I went in the other day - I could only see one chick in the nest. What on earth had happened to the others? I quickly ruled out that they hadn't died of exposure - we've not had that bad a summer - and checked the morning's recording which showed at least three chicks. Then, as I waited for the female to turn up with food, another chick lurched out sideways from behind a frond of bracken. Two down, two to go. I never did see the others but when the female came in it was obvious she was feeding them off screen. Time to move the camera further back, I thought.
This was duly done and at the same time Brian Ribbands, who has been helping us with the filming, took the opportunity to ring the birds. He also established that we have one female and three male chicks and I suspect the female is the big bossy one. Apart from anything else, the female chicks are usually larger - their legs certainly are thicker so they need a different size of leg ring. Hopefully the new camera position will give us better views of all the chicks.