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March 11 - 28
A pair of great tits have taken possession. They haven't started nest building yet but each evening between 17:30 and 18:00 one bird arrives and settles down to roost.
It seems to blow up its feathers into a fluffy ball and tucks it head in.
From time to time it has a shuffle and it may pop its head up but generally it snuggles down until about 6:00 when it begins to stir and deflate the feathery ball.
At one point a shadow is cast which we think may be its mate looking in to give it a wake up call.
As light levels improve the camera switches to colour mode. Between 7:00 and 8:00 the resident bird seems to be stretching up to peer out of the hole (on the left of the images). We think it is maybe waiting for its mate to return.
Soon there is a superfast nest swap and one bird leaves and the other comes in.
The second bird appears to do a bit of tidying as it hunts at the bottom of the box, picks items up and removes them. It seems to be removing droppings.
For the rest of the day birds pop in on occasion but whether these are the ones that appear to have taken up residence or other birds checking out the box we don't know. On one occasion a blue tit popped in and on another occasion a great tit appeared to be sent on its way by a second great tit.
We don't know whether the same bird roosts each night or the pair take turns. The black stripe down the bird's chest is wider in the male but so far we haven't been able to see the chest as most of the activity is seen from above.
Before nest building a typical day in the life of our resident pair of great tits
For the first time two great tits roosted in the box overnight. There was much coming and going and posturing but eventually they both fluffed up and settled down.
March 30 -31
We are puzzled as to whether the great tits roosting are a pair or are in competition for the box. They squabble and squawk at one another a lot so if they are a pair it is not a marriage made in heaven.
Martyn has found another piece of software that records sound from the nest box, The only problem is that the software isn’t movement activated and so we have to select when we are going to record. We decided to set up the recording for when the birds usually came in for the night.
The recording above shows the extent of the squabbling. It also shows that they spend a lot of time hammering the inside of the box. We don’t know why this is. Maybe they are trying to excavate and make the space bigger as they would in a tree hole. The only other explanation us that they are testing out the strength of the construction!
