Elizabeth & Malcolm's Bluetit Pages

Welcome to our bluetit diary for 2024

This year I have managed to update the bluetit diary, including the Summary and Overview pages, albeit well after the event.  I have also managed to keep the webcams running. 

This year has been a very interesting one.  Not only have we had a coal tit pair taking up residence in one of the tit boxes - the first time this has happened in the 24 years I have been keeping this diary -  but we have also had an interesting competition between the coal tit and a bluetit as to who owns the nest box.  The complete story has now been published finishing when the chicks in Box2 fledged on 20th/21st May.

Last autumn, Box1 was blown off its mount.  I feared for the worst, but to my relief, the camera was not damaged.  The problem was due to the mount becoming rotten with old age.  I know the feeling!  However, this was fairly easy to fix as the box itself was sound.

The day after I had remounted it, we had a visitor!

As regular readers of this web site will know, I have been keeping this diary about the nesting of the tits in our garden in Mayford, Surrey since February 2001.  The Overview page gives the dates of the principal events, such as the start of nest building, egg laying, hatching and fledging, and the important statistics, such as how many eggs were laid, hatched and fledged.  Also each year has its own Summary page which gives more details about that year's events.

In 2013, 2015 and 2016, two females shared the nest box between them, laying a total of 21 eggs in 2013, 18 eggs in 2015 and 17 in 2016.  To watch the two hens co-operating with incubating and feeding the chicks was amazing - I did not realise such things happened!

To explore the site, click on the Menu button at the top of every page.  This brings up a context sensitive menu depending on which page it is situated.  It provides a sensible selection of options which can be used to explore the site.  Enjoy!