Friday 18 March 2011

Friday at the Flicks - Nest Box, Hedgehog, Chaffinch

As ever there is plenty of tooing and froing from the Great Tits. No signs of nest building as yet but at least they are still both interested. The box is still used as a roost every night by one of the birds. A couple of times each day they will both briefly enter the box though much of the time one will wait outside on the fence in the background. That is also the time one of the birds does a bit of housekeeping, removing droppings and discarded feathers.





Most nights at least one, and sometimes two, Hedgehogs visit. Sometimes one will arrive soon after it gets dark but most visits are between 1 and 5 in the mornings.



There are a lot of Chaffinches visiting the feeders and searching for food on the lawn. This was by way of another practice in getting used to panning with the weight of the XL2 which is a hefty camera but at least I have now worked out the balance point for mounting it on the tripod.



Hope you enjoyed the short  video clips. Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you. I shall spend the day contemplating being another year closer to my seventh decade.

14 comments:

  1. Your blog is interesting, has left a great impression.
    Best wishes
    Jonas

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  2. Excellent as always. I think you have got the lighting about spot on for the hedgehogs.

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  3. Yes, thank you John, I certainly did enjoy my 'Friday Flicks' visit :)

    I think it is looking very hopeful for some nesting in the box, it will be interesting to watch events unfold.

    Perhaps I should have a look around my garden during the night for a Hedgehog, sadly it is some years now since I saw any evidence of them. The sure sign used to be the tunnels they made under the fences but sadly I haven't noticed that lately.

    Have a good weekend John and I wish you a very Happy Birthday and many more of them to come :)

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  4. Great videos again John.
    Interesting watching the Great Tits in the nest box.

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  5. Thank you for visiting Jonas and for leaving a nice comment.

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  6. Thanks Adrian. It's OK while they are under the lights. I have thought about spreading the lEDs out a bit more.

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  7. Thank you Jan. At least the Great Tits are maintaining their interest in the box.

    There are three small gaps under my fencing which I think they use. Also I am sure one comes in through the front gates as they are metal and have gaps they can get through.

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  8. Thanks Keith. It is fascinating watching the brief moments when both are in the box. They seem to swap over during those meetings.

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  9. Your videos are always interesting. Happy Birthday - hope it was a good day for you.

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  10. Hi John,
    Very interesting videos, as usual. We still haven`t witnessed any hedgehog activity in our garden, but we will soon, hopefully!
    J
    Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES

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  11. I enjoyed the videos ~ all so clear and interesting. So glad the pre-nesting process is still happening; great colouring in the hedgehog video - hard to believe it's in the middle of the night; I think the Chaffinch has such lovely colouring.

    BTW, You've got mail over on my website ;) Hope you had a lovely birthday ... did the sun shine?

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  12. Pleased you enjoyed them Glo. Amazing what difference a few lED lights make to the Hedgehog video.

    Thank you so much for the Hoggy Card. The Sun shone all day so a weeding session was the order of the day!

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  13. Thank you Mick. At least it was a bright cheerful day.

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  14. Thank you John. The hogs don't stay very long each time they visit so it is easy to miss them. Hope you see some activity soon.

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Thank you for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Any comment, or correction to any information or identification I get wrong, is most welcome. John

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