Two birds have been in Box1 together each day this month so far. This shot is from Tuesday 1st.
Time is passing and our bluetits appear to be pairing up.
This one is from Wednesday 2nd.
And this is a picture from today. In fact, at a quick skim through all the pictures for today, it is clear that two birds have been in the box together about half a dozen times.
They must be getting serious then!
Here is another bird that's getting serious - this time in Box2! Although tradition has it that the male finds the nesting place and inveigles the female into adopting it, sometimes the female appears to start using one of our nest boxes of her own accord.
So far we haven't seen any sign of a pair of birds inside this box, but this is clearly a female doing a nesting wriggle, so there must be a male around somewhere.
Sometimes we have got very worried that we had a female who was nest building without any obvious male hanging around to get in the way. We needn't have worried. He clearly did what was necessary and appeared regularly when the chicks hatched!
In the following sequence, some of my confusion about the sex of Will and Harry is explained!
This sequence starts with a bluetit cautiously landing on the roof of Box3. Whichever bird it is, it looks male to me!
He carefully moves forward and peers into the box. Would Harry behave like this?
Having satisfied himself that the box is empty, he goes inside.
He is obviously apprehensive about being here as he keeps raising and lowering his crest. That also makes me think it is Will rather than Harry.
But who is this then?
The first bird has only just gone into the box when another bluetit lands on the roof.
After a few seconds it moves to the entrance hole.
Suddenly it flies out of sight and either it, or another bluetit appears.
This bird also lands on the entrance hole.
Remember while all this is going on outside, the first bird is still inside the nest box.
Now a third bird joins the party!
Is this Harry on the box and a female watching him?
If it is, she suddenly departs.
The bird inside the box has moved up to the entrance hole ...
... and this causes the other bird to fly off.
Shortly after, the bird in the box departs leaving the box empty.
I hope these birds sort themselves out soon - this diary is difficult enough without the confusion as to which bird is which!