A bluetit is back at Box1.
And a nuthatch is back at Box2!
He certainly seems to be serious about this box. Is he looking for a potential nest site or just somewhere to roost for the night?
Checking all the angles!
Just look at that beak - it's almost as fearsome as the beak of the great spotted woodpecker that predated one of our nest boxes a few years back. (Well, I did say almost!)
Starlings galore! I think we had 15 on the bird table at one time.
Back to Box3 again. To begin with, I thought that this was a bluetit, but now I'm not so sure. Elizabeth doesn't think it's a bluetit at all!
However, we're both sure that this isn't a bluetit. The picture was taken about 1½ minutes after the one above so it could be the same bird, but it might not be. Is it a wren perhaps?
Elizabeth thought you might like to see the inside of Box3 as it was before I took last year's nest out. The side mounted camera was positioned on the silver mount you can see on the left of the picture. The inner construction, or skin, which in this picture has its roof removed, is to contain the birds within the nesting area and prevent them from getting at the camera. This pokes through a hole in this skin barely bigger than the lens to enable it to watch the nesting birds. The other camera sits directly above the nest on the right hand side just as in the other boxes.
More details of this box can be seen here.
Let's hope we get a successful brood this year!