What happened in Box1 is still a complete mystery to us. It is several days since we last saw Gelda and much too late for there to be any hope for the eggs. We don't think it was a simple case of Gelda deserting the nest. Phil was still around, although he did have too low a profile for our liking, but more importantly, the nesting material in the nest box looked disturbed.
Gelda was tucked up happily on the evening of 30th April and everything look normal.
By 7.55 the following morning, Gelda was gone and the damage to her nest had been done.
We shall probably never know what happened, and it is difficult to imagine the circumstances that could have caused this. There have been no signs before or after of attacks from a predators such as a grey squirrel, a cat or a woodpecker. And could they have caused this anyway?
We are stumped!
Getting back to more positive news, Sally continues to incubate her clutch of eggs. She still gets restless and leaves the nest box quite frequently, but is seldom off the eggs for more than 5 or 6 minutes.
Incubation normally takes about 12 days. This would mean that Sally's eggs will start hatching around Thursday. Let's hope nothing goes wrong here!
Joe tries to keep her fed - as is shown in the picture.
The visiting great tit seem to be looking at Box3 even more frequently - but surely it's too late to expect a brood of chicks here this season?
After all this time - several days - a great tit has gone into Box1.
Is this Phil - this doesn't look like the way a male great tit would behave to me - or even Gelda? Or another great tit entirely?
I wish the individual birds could be indentified more easily!
Whoever it is, I'm sure it's too late for the eggs!