Bluetit Diary    Jun 2002 (6)

Although we were expecting it, the departure of the first of Battler's chicks at about 9.20am today caught us by surprise.  We had the VCR on but were running the webcam so we do not have a computer record of its going.  Looking at the tape, it was working itself up to it for a little while before hand.  As well as hopping up and down, looking out of the hole and flapping its wings a lot, shortly before it went it hopped up onto the nest box hole several times and looked out for a while before retreating back inside.  Suddenly it was gone without our noticing at the time.

Of course, we thought that the rest would follow later today, but at the end of the day, they are all still with us.

These three pictures show the box from the outside for a change.  The first shows Victor going to his usual staging branch before flying into the nest box entrance hole.

This shows him emerging a few moments later.  This time he doesn't seem to be carrying a faecal sac - at least, you cannot see something white in his beak!

Here are the chicks looking subdued after their brother has left them.  Later on they perked up quite a bit and at one stage we thought that another chick was about to leave.  It too hopped onto the nest box entrance hole but it did not take the final plunge into the unknown.

During one of the chicks' more boisterous sessions, one of the un-hatched eggs was moved to the side of the nest.  Here you can clearly see it at the bottom of the picture.  It is difficult to realise that only 19 days ago these full sized bluetits emerged from such a small egg!