Moving in!! Great tits taking up residence!

 We are very excited that a pair of Great Tits are going to use the camera nestbox. I had seen her, pecking around the hole and putting her head in.  The hole was not big enough for a Great Tit - it had been made for Blue Tits. 

A pair of blue tits had settled on the other box which is about 15 yards away from this box, but doesn’t have a camera. My perception of the situation was that no other blue tits would nest so near. Therefore, the hole at the camera box needed to be enlarged to let another species in. Paul made it a bit bigger - 28mm., and within 10 minutes a great tit was looking into it!

They are now definitely in. So exciting, but a huge time-waster!!

She spreads her wings and rotates - a nest-forming movement that was performed many times before there was actually any nest material.

Husband looks in repeatedly but as yet (27th March) has not been seen inside.

Moving in day! Saturday 27th. March 2021. This nest material is about 5 trips-worth.

An early visit by the female Great tit.

A nestbox camera

 I have long wanted a camera with which to see what goes on at a bird’s nest. I was triggered into actually getting one by being given a gift voucher towards the purchase.

There isn’t room in our present nestbox; Paul made a taller model and we now have it all fixed up, it had to have a power supply and be able to access a good wi-fi signal. It had been up about a week when I saw a beak coming in through the hole (which is 26 mm), with glossy black head attached!!  I think it was a Great tit.  It didn’t come into the box, just put its head in and out a few times.

Then, a few days later, my son saw this blue tit actually in the box. He took video but for some reason  I cannot get them to play on this blogger so here’s a capture from it. We’re very excited by this “viewing”, and really hope our little visitor takes up residence!

The camera is fixed inside the roof of the box, pointing downwards. The entrance hole is in the front, not in the floor!