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B&W Birdcam Diary 2010
Welcome to our new diary for 2010. Information recorded in this diary is taken from our birdcam blog which everyone is invited to contribute to. If you want to see what happened in the box during the three last years, follow the links above or have a look in our archive gallery. Pictures and videos for this year can be found with those from our colour birdcam on our Derbyshire Schools Birdcam Project webpages and blog. |
| End January |
Mrs Goodyear and Mrs Kirk kindly helped clean out our bird boxes at the end of January. |
| 13th March |
Both Blue Tits and Great Tits were seen investigating the box. |
| 29th March |
A tiny a bit of nesting material (dried grass) has been brought into the nest box. |
| 1st April |
Great Tits and Blue Tits still both visiting the box. |
| 3rd April |
With the peace and quiet of the Easter Holidays, it looks like the Great Tits have taken over the box. A few more strands of grass have been brought in and the birds have been observed doing their nest wiggle. |
| 9th April |
Finally a bit more nesting material being brought in, including moss which covered the bottom of the box by the evening. Must have made a cosy bed because one of the Great Tits decided to roost in the box for the night (was quite cold out). |
| 11th-13th April |
The moss has been covered with some wool/hair similar to what the Great Tits used last year. |
| 14th April |
A few feathers have been added. |
| 19th April |
After roosting the night in the box, the female left the nest having laid an egg. |
| 20th-21st April |
Further eggs laid but great tits keep the covered so hard to see. |
| 21st April |
A house sparrow pays several visits to the box whilst the great tits are absent and starts to destroy the eggs. At least one is seen to be cracked. |
| 22nd April |
Both female and male house sparrows are seen in the box clearing up the eggs and beginning to add their own nesting material to the box (dried grass and feathers). It looks like they may have taken over the box for their own use. |
| 30th April |
The nest looks very much like a Sparrw nest now -very messy! Both sparrows are often both in the box, especially first thing in the morning. |
| 2nd May |
The Sparrows have laid their first egg. Although the female did not roost in the box last night, an egg had already been laid by 7 am. |
| 3rd May |
Having spent the night in the nest box, the female left the box for a few minutes while the male took her place in the box. Only one egg could be seen at this time. The female returned to the box and laid the 2nd egg sometime between 6am & 7 am. During this time the male visited the female several times and sometimes snuggled up next to her. |
| 4th May |
Female laid 3rd egg after a night in the box |
| 5th May |
4th egg laid. It looks like incubation may have started with both male and female taking turns on the eggs. |
| 6th May |
A record five eggs have been laid. Incubation has definitely started now, which means we may see chicks hatching from around 17th May. |
| 16th May |
The chicks began to hatch sometime after lunchtime.By the end of the day 3 or possibly four had hatched. The female could be seen feeding the chicks and brooding them to keep them warm. |
| 17th May |
We watched the fifth chick hatch this morning with the help of the female. She removed the remaining shell from the chick’s body, ate some and then took the rest out of the box to dispose of. This chick is already smaller than its slightly older siblings. |
| 19th May |
There are three chicks in the nest now and only the female seems to be feeding and brooding the chicks. |
| 22nd May |
It was very warm day outside today and one of the three chicks made a break for it to the front of the box. This is not a safe place for small chicks to hang out since they are in danger of being in reach of predators. The female sparrow completely ignored this chick when feeding the others until it was back in the well of the nest. |
| 23rd May |
Looks like the hot weather has taken its toll on our birds because we are down to two chicks today. The female has been in and out of the nest box more often today but there’s still no sign of the male. |
| 25th May |
One of the chicks is slightly more developed than the other and your can really start to see feathers growing on its wings. Both chicks have their eyes open. |
| 28th May |
Although one chick is still much bigger than the other, both are quite lively and sometimes feed from the female at the hole. |
| 30th May |
The smallest now has a covering of feathers. Sometimes you can mistake the bigger chick for the female because it has similar markings i.e a pale stripe above the eye. The female still seems to be the chicks’ sole carer, feeding them during the day and brooding them at night. |
| 2nd June |
It's 17 days since the first chick hatched, so they are already a little bit late fledging! |
| 3rd June |
The chicks had spent the night without the female who returned early morning to feed the chicks at the hole (trying to tempt them out). She was less bothered about keeping the nest clean. The chicks were seen getting their wings in good condition by preening and flapping them. The bigger chicks fledged first after perching in the hole several times. The smaller chick left about an hour and a half later (9.14 am) having still received visits from the female for the occasional feed. |