Bluetit Diary    Dec 2006 (3)

After 6 years, the camera inside Box1 has become distinctly temperamental.  I've checked all the cables and joints but it still produces a black image at increasingly frequent intervals.  When tested out of the box, the only thing that puts it right when it is in a black mood is a good thump - not to be recommended - and not possible when it fails in situ!

We have decided to replace it with a new camera of the same type and today, only 24 hours after I ordered it from BoxWatch, it has arrived!  What we couldn't know when we planned this was that a great tit pair would take over the box so rapidly after it was put back up, and that the male would start roosting in the box over night!

This was one of that last images captured from the old camera.  You can see from the time stamp that it had started working again briefly.  It must have known its time had come.

We also decided that we had the external camera a bit too close to Box1.  As you can see from this image, although the entrance hole can be seen very clearly, you miss anything that happens on the roof of the box.

I also realised, when thinking about changing the camera, that I had not been very clever in positioning the external camera.  It is fixed to a pole that is attached to the tree just above the box itself.  Unfortunately, this pole is too close to the box and it interferes with and prevents the lifting of the box's lid!  Doh!!

This means that not only do I have to change the camera, but I have to reposition the pole and add a piece of wood to it so that even though the pole is now 6 inches higher up the tree the camera still stays opposite the entrance hole.  What I hoped would be a quick 5 minute job is turning out to be one of over an hour.  And the male great tit has started roosting!!

Still, what's going on with Box2?  We have a bluetit interested and here he is paying us a visit and having a good look around.

What is exciting us even more is this nuthatch.  I fear that the hole is too small for a nuthatch, but this doesn't stop this one from taking a good look.

 The question of what is the right hole size for different species of birds is difficult.  The RSPB suggests 25mm for a blue, coal or marsh tit and 28mm for a great tit.  Our nest boxes have always had a hole of 28mm but until I made the hole larger (32mm) for a desperate great tit in 2005, we had only ever had bluetits inside.

At the moment, Box1 has a hole of 32mm and Box2 of 28mm.  I'm pretty sure that we will have a great tit in Box1 and a bluetit in Box2.  Perhaps birds are bigger in Mayford!

We're pretty sure that the mysterious beak that poked itself into Box1 earlier this month was a nuthatch.  We would love to offer one a home but if we made the hole big enough for a nuthatch, we would probably get a great tit pair.  That in itself wouldn't be too bad but with a great tit pair looking set in Box1, we could end up with no bluetits at all!

Then we would have to think of a new name for this diary!

I'm not quite sure what is going on here!  If it were a dog, I could imagine that it was scent marking the property hoping to keep others out but I don't think garden birds do that sort of thing.

What beautiful colours and style the nuthatch shows though.  Perhaps one day we will work out how to attract one to nest with us!