Another round in the battle for ownership of Box1 took place this afternoon.
First the great tit enters the box.
Five seconds later the bluetit shows up. This happens so regularly that he must be watching out for the great tit.
A few seconds later another great tit comes to the box.
Is the first GT the female and this is the male? That would fit with his aggressive posture. But was he displaying because of the bluetit or because the two great tits are not a pair?
I used to think that this display (the bird's beak is open) was an aggressive posture but later realised that it is more probably a female asking to be fed by the male. A bit early for this though!
He's calming down now so it was probably the bluetit which has now flown off.
She's still asking to be fed though. If this was an aggressive display, then her wings would be spread.
This looks like a resigned shrug!
Less than a minute later, she departs.
Just for a change, we thought you might like to see a picture of our bird table at its busiest!
The starlings love the fat mix that Elizabeth puts out for them. I doubt that you could fit any more on the table without making it bigger!