When she finally arrives, he immediately pops into the box. However, she overshoots ....
.... but comes back a couple of seconds later ...
.... and enters the box too.
At which point, Barney promptly leaves. He did this so rapidly that this is the only picture taken of his departure.
Fluffy leaves 17 seconds later.
Here she goes. At least her flight feathers appear to be unaffected by her fluffiness!
The pattern of these exchanges is now clear. The male frequently hangs around the nest box, often actually perching on its entrance. We have seen examples of Barney staying there for over a minute, an age for a bluetit. We think that if we could hear what went on, we would also hear him calling for the female to come.
When she arrives, the male immediately pops into the potential home, followed shortly after by the female. His job (of introducing his partner to a nesting site) done, the male immediately leaves.
We have commented on the male cowering in a corner as the female enters. We now think the this may just be self preservation. He knows she will appear but doesn't know where she will land and keeps tucked up in the corner in the hope that this will mean the he is not hit as his partner lands! We have seen at least one entry this year where the female landed on top of the male when she came in!