Bluetit Diary    May 2021 (1)

This looks like Flora sitting in the nest cup in Box2.

Three hours later, she is back again.

Here is Flora again. (Don't ask me why I am taking pictures before 6am!)

Flora must have found a good source of feathers. She has a beakful of them here.

Somehow she has managed to find some blue twine. I hope the chicks don't get caught up in it later.

These are of course Ella's eggs. One of them doesn't seem to have any purple spots on it. I wonder why.

Of course, it may just be a trick of the light!

In this shot, none of the eggs looks particularly marked. It must be just a trick of the light.

Six lovely looking eggs.

Just look at these feathers! Flora must have found lots of them.

Another visit to Box2 by the great tits. I hope Flora's doesn't have her hopes dashed.

What's going on in Box1? Is that a piece of eggshell in Ella's beak?

Well if that wasn't clear, then this certainly is! An egg must have hatched. And today was the day I had forecast too!

Yes, a chick has definitely hatched.

It looks as though Ella is eating the egg's shell. This is the normal way of disposing of it for the first few eggs.

You can see that the piece of shell is getting smaller.

Nearly gone now.

Just a tiny bit left.

Now Ella has left the nest - perhaps to tell Ernie? You can clearly see the newly hatched chick which is the pink blob at the bottom left of the clutch.

Hurrah! Ernie has brought some food for the chicks. Thank goodness he is still around. I haven't seen him for ages!

The new brood of chicks can only survive the early days if the male is playing his part. The hen cannot keep the chicks warm and find enough food for them by herself.

You can just see a small item of food in Ella's beak.

I think there are still 5 eggs here. The first chick is lying on the 5th egg and hiding it from the camera.

Feed me! Feed me!