Today it's the turn of Box2 to get busy! From around 9 o'clock, which is when we switched on, there were at least 14 separate visits to the box, either by one bird alone, or for the first time this year, by both birds!
This is the male bluetit. We appear to be fortunate this year in that it is easy to distinguish the male from the female.
As you can see in this picture, the male has a receding blue cap on his head which is also flecked with white. I believe that male bluetits tend to develop more white flecks in their head feathers as they grow older, so according to my theory, this male is, well shall we just say mature!
This was the first recorded visit of the day.
Here he is again half an hour later.
He jumps up onto the entrance and calls for his mate.
Once he thinks he has attracted her attention, he gets out of the way and drops back into the nest box.
She comes to the box and goes inside.
Today's activity has reminded me that I still haven't corrected the image slip on this camera!
Both birds in the box for the first time this year!
You can see the difference in the two birds head feathers quite clearly here. The female's head feathers are smoother and more uniform in colour, and the white face feathers do not extend as high above the beak as do these feathers in the male bird.
As soon as the female is inside the nest, the male leaves.
We have seen this pattern of behaviour repeated time after time over the years we have been monitoring bluetits.
The female watches the male depart.
He doesn't fly away, but having left the nest box he swivels around and stays on the entrance hole.
Here you can see her beak open and we presume they are still calling to each other.
Soon, he does fly off and here you can see the female looking out of the box herself.
She stays there a short while and then leaves.
This whole sequence from the time the male first entered the nest box until when the female left has taken about 45 seconds!