See how Barney's head feathers are changing as the breeding season progresses. Now they are streaked with white - I used to think it was the stress of bringing up the chicks - but it's too early for that.
Unless it's the stress of coping with Fluffy!
In reality, I suppose it's hormonal, this being the breeding season!
This is a shot of Barney take in early February to compare. You can see his head feathers are much more like Fluffy's here.
To get back to the story - Fluffy carried on being her usual daft self for most of the morning until about ten to two. Then she disappeared! By 7.30pm I was getting worried. I scanned previous days records and couldn't find another day without her flitting around no matter how hard I looked. Every now and again, Barney would come looking for her - sometimes going into the nest box - sometimes not. But still, no sign of Fluffy! Elizabeth insisted that I was worrying about nothing - it was her hen night and everything was OK.
Suddenly, I saw a blur out of the corner of my eye.
Thank goodness - its Fluffy!
We had turned out the light as usual at about 7.20 We want to make sure that she is not put off roosting by the inside of the box being much brighter than the outside.
Suddenly, she seems to hesitate. She's normally in the box when we turn off the light, so perhaps it felt odd to her.
But she goes in anyway.
Barney comes to check that Fluffy's back at last.
Barney flies off a happy bluetit!
We were all relieved she was back and roosting as usual!