We are still not sure how many of Sally's chicks successfully hatched out of their eggs. This picture shows 9 but could there be more hiding in there somewhere?
Here we have seven gapes and one closed beak.
Now it's eight gapes!
Both parents seem to be doing a good job. This shows Joe at the bottom and Sally at the top of the picture. The parents always seem to enter the nest box on the same side - in this case Sally at the top and Joe at the bottom. I presume that this is to reduce the possibilities of a collision!
"Let me out!"
Faecal sac removal duty! What goes in must come out eventually and such stuff must be removed from the nest box as soon as possible if it is going to avoid turning into a mess of pigsty proportions.
The parents always wait a few seconds after they have fed a chick to see if this triggers the production of a faecal sac.
If you examine this image closely, you can see that one of the chicks' eyes are starting to open. Click on the picture for a closer view.
I think both parents have food here. You can also see that Joe's head feathers are starting to show streaks of white. It must be the strain of fatherhood. (Yes, I know, but females are tougher than males!)
"Your turn dear!"
With all the excitement of Sally's chicks, we mustn't forget Ken and Freda. Freda is now sitting on five eggs.
Five seems to be par for the course for our great tits. Out of five great tit clutches, four have consisted of 5 eggs and the fifth had 6.
Freda is incubating steadily as great tits do. There is a long way to go as this is only day 3 out of about 12!
Let's hope that she doesn't disappear one morning as mysteriously as Gelda did!
Finally, proof that 10 of Sally's 11 eggs hatched. Here is a picture taken towards the end of the day showing nine gapes and one chick with its beak nearly closed in the middle of the picture.
Somewhere down there will be the single unhatched egg.