Now We Are Two (weeks old)

The six surviving Great Tit babies appear to be progressing well. They often spend time preening and flapping their tiny wings.

Kermit's Cousin and a new Bird Table Camera

Having a last look round the back garden last night I spotted a common frog just waiting to have its portrait taken:






Yesterday the new camera arrived for the Bird Table. It is definitely an improvement in quality. The only problem is it is not quite as wide angle as the old one. Looks as though the Round Tuit now has a new entry - build a taller Bird Table to get the camera a bit further away from the birds and angle it to give a part side view.

The video is in two parts
1st  Old Camera - A juvenile Robin stood on the seeds but hoping to be fed.
2nd  New Camera - visiting male Chaffinch:



The camera is not waterproof so I hope the table roof is as it is purposefully precipitating at the moment.

Great Tit Nest Box:  There has been no adult roosting with the babies for three nights. I'm not sure what is going on.  We have lost two of the babies. Maybe a shortfall of food or too much competition from the strongest or possibly got too cold over night. Only six active beaks now when an adult arrives with food. So far the survivors are looking healthy. Not all the hatchlings survived last year.

12 Day Old GTs + Heath Robinson Strikes Again

I was a tad surprised and a bit alarmed when I saw that Mama didn't sleep in the nest box on Tuesday night. The night before she had spent much of her time trying to sleep on the edge of the nest. I guess she sensed the babies were getting too hot, and maybe a bit too fidgety for sound sleep. Anyway Wednesday started and continued well with the babies being regularly fed. Some visits were so close together that I guess both parents were involved.  Some video from Wednesday, notice that at least some of the chicks now have their eyes open::




For yonks I've contemplated fixing a camera in the bird table so I can get a closer view of just what visits. One of those long outstanding Round Tuits. Tuesday I tried a Mk 1 solution by modifying an old nest box to see how well the idea would work. Good piccies but the camera (a colour board camera bought from Maplins many years ago) was too close in that box. BTW, it took the Starlings less than 15 minutes to find this new feeding station.

Wednesday I set about a Mk 2 version. This time I took off the old rotten roof from the bird table, installed and tested the camera and then put a new roof on made from clear perspex. In retrospect that was a bad decision. The camera doesn't really need any extra daylight and also the flickering Sunlight filtering through nearby bushes keeps triggering the recorder.

Some resulting video from both:
(the scrappy, glitchy bits are from the recorder not the camera)



I think I have to re-focus the camera a bit though I have a better one on the way so I may wait until then. The present one is daylight only, the new one will be colour by day and b/w at night.

Legs, Legs and Yet More Legs

Moved a piece of wood and spotted this magnificent jet black millipede:





Only managed 8 seconds of video. With all those legs it could move quite fast as it was determined to get back in the shade:



Each segment has two pair of legs.

Fledgling Bank Holiday

Bank Holiday Monday morning was glorious with wall to wall Sunshine so Penny took advantage of a bit of sunbathing as well as keeping an eye on the bird feeders:

 

I was able to watch the baby Great Tits in their nest plus I was delighted when a few fledglings appeared in the garden. The first to be seen was a young Robin:

 

I can find my own food .....
 

..... but it's a lot easier if I just yell at mum and dad to feed me:


Where have those kids gone now....
 

Also visiting was a demanding Blackbird fledgling:



I'm trying for the record for the most seeds in one beak:


Finally a bit of video of the fledglings:

Now We Are Ten (days old)

How fast the Great Tit babies have grow in ten days:



Eyes are still closed but should be opening soon.

Roosting Pocket

I've had a couple of roosting pockets hanging from the side of the shed for quite a while. Regulars may remember that a Wren built a nest in one but then abandoned it.  I think they were too exposed to be of real interest to any birds. I decided to move one to a more sheltered spot at the end of the garden behind a shrub:



I fixed it near the diamond shaped nest box and adjusted the camera to look straight at it:



It didn't stay like that for very long. The recorder the camera is connected to starts recording when any movement is detected. Unfortunately even a slight breeze caused the pocket to wobble so a lot of useless recordings were being made.

In the meantime I had looked on eBay to see if any roosting pockets were for sale. Yes, there are. One I saw was built in a wooden frame which added extra shelter from the elements. I decided to try the same idea as it would be easier to fix a wooden frame so it didn't move around in a breeze.

What to use?  The obvious thing was to adapt the diamond nest box so I took it down and removed the extra panels I had fixed to the back.  The inside was pristine so it was obvious no bird had shown real interest in using it. Turning the box back to front the pocket wedged in place very snugly so that worked out well. Fixed the modified unit in place and made sure the camera got a good view of any activity:



The box is not as exposed as that view would suggest:



I don't expect any activity this time of year as the roosting pocket is designed to be a Winter shelter for a small bird. A Robin or Wren might show some interest in it as a nesting site though that would probably be next year. At least getting it all fixed up now gives time for it to become part of the natural surroundings.


The eight Great Tit babies are thriving, and growing at a fast rate, as the parents are brilliant at fetching a constant supply of live food for them.