"'Mike'" wrote in message
...
Well the box was quiet for days but activity started again yesterday.
Loads more nest building material going in.

A few questions to the experts please.

Could they have started to lay eggs yet and the moss etc going in, being
used to keep the eggs warm?
A bird came to the hole yesterday, looked in, didn't go in, BUT, there was
the quivering wing action of a young bird. Could this be a fledgling from
another nest? Already?
And what is the Bluetits, 'safety zone'? The nestbox is 12 feet away from
me with the doors open, my wife has been backwards and forwards to within
6 feet of it whilst gardening, and the birds have taken no notice at all!!
How 'near' would be danger?

Now one for you to laugh at. I have the radio on all the time, Classifm so
there is a lot of music + the stupid adverts. Farmers have put music in
milking parlours. Is music a 'soothing' influence to birds as well?

Mike

I turned on the camera inside the box this morning and saw what looks like
the first egg. I am not sure, as I remember that once it was just a 'bald'
patch of the bottom of the box that looks just like an egg. Yesterday, I
thought she had finally found my hair that I put out but saw several
sparrows with similar material in their beaks. It wasn't until I went
outside and found the remains of a collared dove (just the feathers, no
corpse) that I realised that they had all been collecting the downy
feathers.
I very much doubt you saw a chick from this year. This link
http://www.biggonline.co.uk/ is generally much earlier than mine and they
are still laying and mine may have started. I believe the female will do
this quiver motion to ask for food from the male. I have only seen it
inside the nestbox, though. I am hoping to add some video and a report
before dark this evening. Generally, after each egg is laid, the female
leaves the box but returns later to cover them.
As for your safety zone, we have sat on the patio, no more than a few feet
from the nestbox and they don't seem to mind. Last year, I was being
watched from the tree whist I removed a corpse that she had not managed to
remove.

Dave.


--
Dave & Viv are living happily ever after in Pembrokeshire.
www.daviv.com for a bluetit diary.