Fred feeds the chicks. They both seem happy with this arrangement. Fantail doesn't seem to be taking a 'dog in the manger' attitude.
Fred has just pushed Fantail off the nest so that he can feed the chicks himself!
However, whatever the reason, it is Fantail that leaves the nest first!
Some time back, we wrote about how to tell the sex of bluetits. At the time, we felt that Fantail broke the rules and had the broad white band across the back of her head that we felt was characteristic of male bluetits. Here are a couple of pictures of Fred and Fantail standing in roughly the same position. We reckon that Fantail no longer looks like a male!
Fantail with a narrow white band. Fred with a broader band and a darker, more ragged top piece.
After they have fed a chick, both parents seem to wait a bit to see if the chick will produce a sac for them to remove. In the following sequence, Fred seems to get confused between a sac and a white feather!
Fantail hears Fred coming and gets off the nest. Fred then feeds the chicks.