I am starting this year's diary a lot later than usual. Elizabeth has been having an increasingly painful knee joint for some time, and late last summer was recommended to have the joint replaced. The operation for a partial replacement of her left knee took place on 23rd November last year and after only 6 weeks it is already an improvement on the old one. Well anyway, that's my excuse for not getting around to cleaning out the boxes until the New Year!
Box2 has been cleaned and remounted in the same position as last year. I nearly replaced Box1 last year but eventually decided to leave it until later. It was suffering from squirrel and woodpecker damage and the electrical connections for the camera were becoming increasingly fragile. This year I plan to replace it with another new box from Boxwatch and this should be installed shortly. The original box was our first nest box with a built in camera and has lasted for 9 years so I feel that it has done pretty well.
Box3 has also been cleaned and tested and is ready for remounting once the weather improves and the snow clears. This year I shall remount it in the position it occupied in 2007 and 2008. In 2009 we turned it through 90° as we thought the birds might prefer it facing in a more northerly direction. After our worst ever season for that box in 2009, we have decided that it was better in its original location!
