Another egg in Box1! Perhaps Beauty will deliver the goods after all.
We set up i-Catcher to capture visits by the male for the early part of the morning and during this period on average he managed one feeding visit every 3½ minutes. That should encourage even the most flighty of birds to sit tight - but by about 10.30am she was off again. Fortunately, it was not for long.
The first of the day's pictures of Beauty being fed.
Nothing seems to be happening in Box2. Battler is still coming into the box from time to time and still roosts in it, but is neither laying nor incubating so the clutch of eight eggs appears doomed to fail.
In this picture you can see not only the eggs but also the green caterpillar that he has just given to Beauty. She really seems to have decided that it is time to start incubating. Although she left the nest several times during the day, she never stayed away long, cuddling down for long periods.
But what about the first egg, laid on 18th April and sat on most nights since? Won't it be either addled or significantly ahead of the latest egg? Time will tell.
If she has started, then the last eggs should hatch on or about the 14th May.
I have also been trying to get some pictures of our robin's nest and its chicks. We have seen both robins taking food into their box, but we have not been able to get a photograph of them yet. There is no light inside the nest box and the swaying leaves in front of it create a field of permanent movement that cannot be masked without masking out the nest itself! Also the robins move so quickly in front of the nest that it has proved impossible to capture them without the image being a blurred mess.