18 May 2017
By Thursday you can see how developed our blue tit chicks were. They’d lost their big yellow gape, flight feathers looked strong with plenty of exercising going on and their tail feathers were growing well. Mum was still diving to the bottom of the nest to keep it clean but now with the size of the chicks, she disappeared completely with just her tail sticking out! I was due to have a couple of days off – would they fledge while I was away?
21 May 2017
Sunday morning I arrived and found just three chicks in the box – they were fledging!
As I watched the parents kept flying over and calling to them from outside, trying to entice the youngsters out. One of the remaining chicks jumped up to the entrance and after some deliberation took a leap of faith and commenced on his maiden flight into the nearby trees.
He was shortly followed by his sibling, leaving one last lonely chick.
The parents tried to lure him out with food but he seemed reluctant to leave the nest despite looking out the entrance several times. In the end of course, he gathered up his courage and joined the family in the big outdoors…
Eight out of nine eggs hatched and all eight chicks fledged.