We got back from Minsmere about midday. We had a great time meeting in the flesh some of the people that Elizabeth has recently been chatting to on Bird Forum.
So what have our birds been up to while we have been away?
Fantail's nest does not seem to have changed much. The floor of the nest box is still only half covered and not much appears to be going on.
What's Fluffy been up to then? It seems that a layer of moss about a centimetre thick has been added since Saturday. And there are far more white feathers!
Fluffy has just brought in another beakful of white feathers. We have no idea where she is getting them from but it must be from a bird killed somewhere nearby. Perhaps the sparrowhawk, perhaps a cat - from the condition of the feathers, it was very recent and from a very pale bird like a collared dove.
"Has Fluffy found a dead flamingo", a friend asked when he saw these pictures on the Web Viewer?
She obviously thinks she's in the final stages of nest building - lining the nest cup. We think her nest material is a little thin still and hope that she adds a bit more before starting to lay her eggs.
We couldn't resist showing you this image.
First, who is it? It didn't behave as Barney does and it's certainly not Fluffy!
Whoever it is, he started by landing on the left hand edge of the box. He then flew to the hole and stayed there a short while before flying away. This shows the instant of take off from the hole and you can see the light in the box through his feathers.
If you click on the image you will see a larger version.
At the end of the day, this was the state of Fluffy's nest. Normally I would think that the eggs could be laid at any time now. However, Fluffy has yet to start roosting in the nest box and the cold weather could well inhibit her.
My best guess for the first egg was 24th April for both boxes, but I now think this one could be a week earlier than that.
Did you enter Elizabeth's competition on Bird Forum to guess the date of the first egg in each box?