Bluetit Diary    Jun 2002 (5)

 

 

Thursday 6th June, 2002

This morning, I took the ladder and looked inside Box1 where Beauty and Beau had raised their brood.  I was trying to settle the question of whether or not all eight of Beauty's eggs hatched.

It was already clear that no remaining egg was visible to the camera and when I looked and felt inside the box it appeared that no egg was hidden in the nesting material either.  It seems probable, therefore, that the eighth egg hatched but the chick died at a fairly early stage.  This is also consistent with the fact that no egg has been seen during the 2½ weeks in which the chicks were growing before they fledged.  A similar thing happened last year when the hen laid 9 eggs but only 6 chicks flew.  However, there were only 2 eggs left in the nest so we presume a 7th egg hatched but the chick died at an early stage.

This year both boxes have had a very irregular pattern of egg laying and hatching.  The amazing thing is that the chicks fledge so close together in time.

Victor bringing a mealworm.

Victor appears to be doing all the work again.  If we could have brought you picture from yesterday you would have seen a very hard working, but very wet Victor struggling to find food for his chicks in appalling weather.

Here you can see that he doesn't even have to come fully into the box now,  the hungry chicks will come and meet him half way.

As this is probably the day before the chicks fly, it is not surprising that they frequently exercise their wings to get them ready for the big event.  We don't often catch them at it, but here is one picture of a chick flapping furiously.

At last Victor's hard work seems to be having an effect.  You can see that three of the chicks are not hungry enough to take notice of his entry.  Lets hope they are fit and well fed for their big day tomorrow!

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