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B&W Birdcam Diary 2011
Welcome to our new diary for 2011. 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 four 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 October |
Our bird boxes were cleaned out at the end of October. |
| 11th February |
Camera reconnected to the computer for the first time this year. A partial nest of dried grass is already in the box! A blue tit is found to be roosting in the box at night. |
| 20th February |
A blue tit appears to be roosting in the box most nights. However, during the day, the box is being visited by a pair or blue tits and also a tree sparrow. Both species spend some time moving nesting material around but it’s not clear which birds are bringing it in. The partial nest is more typical of a sparrow's as it consists of mainly grass rather than moss. |
| 24th February |
The blue tit is not roosting in the box tonight. |
| 26th February |
The blue tit hasn’t roosted in the box for three nights now, however, there has been a lot more daytime activity. A bit more nesting material has been brought in over the last couple of days but we can’t be sure which species is actually building the nest (both blue tits and tree sparrows are visiting the box). |
| 12th March |
Although the blue tits still visit the box occasionally, the tree sparrows spend more time in the box and appear to be responsible for the nest building. The nest is looking rather messy today and the sparrows are often seen under the nesting material. |
| 13th March |
The nest is taking on a dome shape with an entrance point to one side of the box. This type of nest is typical of tree sparrows. |
| 31st March |
The tree sparrows are very active in the box but because of the dome shaped of the nest is is often difficult to see the birds except when they leave and enter the box. Sometimes you can tell that a bird is present because the nesting material moves around. It will be difficult to tell if eggs have been laid. |
| 2nd April |
The blue tits still sometimes sneak a look in the box but the tree sparrows see them off if they spot them. |
| 16th April |
One of the adults was spotted roosting in the box tonight. Could this mean that eggs are being, or have been laid? |
| 27th April |
Although the shape of the nest means we can't see any eggs, watching the live feed reveals that the tree sparrows are taking in turns to be in the box for long periods of time. This suggests that they are incubating eggs. No chirping noises can be heard. |
| 2nd May |
The adults are both bringing live food to the box. Have we got chicks!? |
| 4th May |
Faint chirping can be heard on the live feed confirming the presence of chicks. |
| 6th May |
The noise from the chicks is getting louder, especially when the adults enter the box. Still no sign of the chicks (see video on blog). |
| 8th May |
At last we've seen a chick poke its head out from under the nesting material but we still don't know how many there are. Both parents are kept very busy feeding them. The chicks' eyes are open. |
| 11th May |
Today we spotted three chicks in the nest. Sometimes they come out under the hole of the box. They are constantly making a lot of noise and can be heard from the playground. |
| 13th May |
The chicks dash out to grab food from the hole when the parents visit but then wiggle backwards to go back down into their hideout. |
| 15th May |
The chicks have been on show a bit more today. The adults seem to feed the chicks more at the hole now and only occasionally enter the box, mainly to pick up any faecal sacs messing up the nest.
Although we don’t know exactly when the chicks hatched, they must be about two weeks old now and due to fledge any day. |
| 16th May |
Not three but five chicks showing themselves today! No wonder they make so much noise! |
| 17th May |
The five chicks are all doing well. Several times today, it looked like they might leave the nest. There was a lot of wing flapping and sitting in the entrance hole. However, they are still all in the nest tonight. |
| 18th May |
The 5 Tree Sparrow chicks finally fledged mid-morning today. The adults spent most the early part of the morning trying to tempt the chicks out by sitting in nearby trees and ledges and calling to them. The chicks seemed reluctant, may be because there was a few spots of rain and quite a breeze. The adults have been back to the box to clean out any droppings and to tidy it up a bit. This may be a sign that they are getthing the nest ready for a second brood. |
| 6th June |
Although we still can’t see the main part of the Tree Sparrows’ nest, we know that they have been incubating a second clutch of eggs because the adults have been taking turns to spend long periods of time in the box. No chirping sounds can be heard on the live feed. |
| 10th June |
The chicks must have hatched in the last few days as loud chirping sounds can be heard in the box via the live feed. |
| 17th June |
Watching the live feed today we can see that there are least five chicks. They are often just fed at the hole. The nest hasn’t totally maintained its domed structure as it now has two ‘entrances’ with the chicks often seen poking their heads out of the new top opening. Feeding doesn’t seem to be as frequent as for the first brood. |
| 20th June |
The chicks are looking close to full grown and have been seen stretching their wings today. Most of the feeding is now being done at the hole. The chicks spend the nights alone in the nest now. It shouldn't be long before they fledge. |
| 24th June |
By this morning, the nest box had become very crowded. The full grown chicks were busy preening, flapping their wings and hopping up and sitting in the entrance hole to gain prime position for a feed. After much encouragement from the adults, three of the chicks finally fledged by the end of the morning. We had to wait until after the children went home for the last two chicks to fledge at around 4 pm. All the chicks proved to be good fliers, fledging into the branches of nearby trees. |
| 25th June |
One of the adult birds has been visiting the box for a bit of nest maintenance. This could mean they are getting ready for a third brood! |
| 27th June |
Mrs Tait noticed that one of the cable ties attaching the box to the wall had broken leaving the box dangling. Amazingly the birds still kept going in the box even though it was now facing a different direction! Mr Heathcote re-fixed it to the wall at the end of the day. |
| 28th June |
We had a wasp invasion today and the wasp nest, which was behind the wall boarding on the front of the school, had to be fumigated. Hopefully the birds won't be upset by the disturbances of the last couple of days. |
| 3-4th July |
A hot weekend. |
| 5th July |
Adult are spending long periods of time in the box and are almost certainly incubating a 3rd clutch of eggs. |
| 11th July |
The eggs are still hidden but we think that the Tree Sparrows are probably still incubating the eggs as we can't hear any chick noises. |
| 15th July |
The 3rd brood has hatched during the last couple of days. We can hear chicks in the box and the adults have started to bring in food. We won't know how many chicks there are this time until they start to venture out from under the nesting material. |
| 18th July |
At least a couple of beaks were spotted today when the adult were feeding the chicks. The wet weather over the weekend has continued today. |
| 25th July |
At least 3 chicks were spotted during the day. The chicks appear to be spending the rather warm night alone in the box. |
| 26th July |
Five chicks on view now matching the number of chicks in the other two broods. The chicks are sometimes fed at the hole. |
| 29th July |
Our third brood of five chicks appear to be doing well and enjoying the peace and quiet of the holidays! They are at least 2 weeks old and are likely to fledge any day now, hopefully before it gets too hot over the coming weekend. One of the chicks is much smaller than the others, fingers crossed it will fledge successfully like the smaller chick in the 2nd brood. |
| 30th July |
Four of the chicks fledged early this morning, the 4th one leaving the smallest chick in the box at around 9.30 am. I drove past school later in the morning and could hear the fledglings calling to be fed from nearby trees. The adults have continued to visit the box to feed the remaining chick. |
| 31st July |
The smaller chick spent the night in the box alone last night. Despite looking quite underdeveloped compared to those already fledged, it has been seen sitting in the hole waiting to be fed. The parents have visited occasionally to fed the chick in the box but don't appear to be clearing up the droppings as much as they have in the past. |
| 1st August |
Having spent another night alone in the box, the remaining chick finally fledged just before 7 am, a full two days after the rest of the brood! |
| 3rd August |
The adults don't appear to be visiting the box anymore which suggests that there won't be a 4th brood. What a successful year for the Stretton Handley Tree Sparrows with a total 15 chicks fledging. |