About twenty seconds later he was back again - or was it the female this time? That fluffy patch on the left hand side of the bird looks different from last time. This bird didn't hang around dithering either. It landed on the entrance hole and went straight in.
It's most annoying not to have any interior pictures! What on earth can these birds be doing inside a totally empty box for 20 to 25 minutes? This is a shot taken as (s)he was leaving about 28 minutes later at 5 minutes to 12..
This was the pattern of activity for the rest of the day. There was another visit two minutes later which lasted 20 minutes; another 3 minutes later lasting 15 minutes and so on. There was a total of 9 visits to the nest box during the day and the last time a great tit visited, he didn't come out again!
The time is now a quarter to four and it's starting to get dark.
A great tit lands on the entrance hole and has a quick look around ...
... and pops into the nest box.
No sign of a fluffy bit on its left side end here.
Darkness comes quite early these days - after all it's almost the shortest day!
This shot was taken at a quarter past four. The camera has switched into night mode, and is taking shots by infra red light. You can just see the great tit's head here as he settles down for the night. He does not emerge before we switch off much later.
It looks as though we have a rooster!