This year I have put back the aluminium plate over the entrance of Box1 in order to restrict it to 28mm. According to the RSPB, this should be big enough for great tits as well as bluetits, but we have never found great tits willing to enter a box through a hole of this diameter.
Box1 is popular today. Here a bluetit checks it out ...
... and now it's the great tit's turn
Three quarters of an hour later, the bluetit is back for a second look.
Now the great tit has another look.
He's down on the entrance hole this time. It must be getting serious!
Half an hour later and the great tit is back again.
Of course it is always possible that this was the box he was hatched in last year. If that's the case, it's no wonder that he is puzzled by the smaller hole this year!
Back onto the entrance hole
Thirty seconds later, he is still looking and now his partner seems to have joined him.
Suddenly, something catches their attention. This picture was taken less than a second after the one above.
Here he seems to be having a real try to get into the nest box - to no avail! He flies off shortly after.
Three minutes later he is back again.
This time the gap is 10 minutes. He does seem keen though. There has been no sign of the bluetit pair since the shot taken two hours ago.
A couple of seconds later and he seems to be displaying on the entrance hole. You might almost think that there is a foreign bird inside but according to the inside camera, that's not the case!
In fact, throughout the whole day, not one bird went inside this box!
It's now 40 minutes later and he is back again.
He flies down to the hole ..
... and lands on it.
He visits the box several more times during the afternoon, but never manages to get inside. Is it lack of courage or is the hole too small for him?
Finally, it's not just the great tits around Box1 that are getting excited - here is a bluetit in Box2 who seems to think it's time to start nest building!