The Overview

Brood Start of
nest building
Start of
roosting
(female)
Nest
 complete
First egg
 laid
No. of
eggs
Incubation started Start of hatching Wing Flapping Fledging Number
fledged
2001 Box1 26 Feb 27 Feb 18 Apr 25 Apr 9 4 May 16 May 30 May 4 Jun 6
2002 Box1 9 Mar 25 Mar   18 Apr 8 1 May 13 May 28 May 1 Jun 7
2002 Box2 19 Feb 21 Mar   7 Apr 8+3 7 May
(note 1)
19 May   7 Jun 5
2003 Box1 11 Mar 31 Mar 20 Apr 24 Apr 8 5 May 16 May   5 Jun 6
2003 Box2 29 Mar 31 Mar 19 Apr 25 Apr 5 30 Apr 13 May 27 May 31 May 2
(note2)
2004 Box1 1 Mar 18 Apr 21 Apr (note 3) -          
2004 Box2 20 Mar 7 Apr 5 Apr 16 Apr 7 23 Apr 6 May 19 May 24 May 7
2005 Box1 (GT) 10 Apr
 (note 4)
21 Apr 13 Apr 22 Apr 5 27 Apr 9 May   29 May 5
2005 Box2 11 Mar 5 Apr 5 Apr 13 Apr 8 21 Apr 4 May 19 May 25 May 6
2006 Box1 (GT) 6 Apr
(note 4)
  18 Apr 20 Apr 5 24 Apr 6 May   25 May 2
2006 Box2 8 Mar   20 Apr 21 Apr 10 29 Apr 11 May 29 May 1 Jun 8
2007 Box1 (GT) 1 Mar
(note 4)
5 Jan 15 Mar 11 Apr 6 16 Apr 28 April 14 May 18 May 6
2007 Box2 23 Feb   7 Apr 13 Apr 10 21 Apr 2 May (note 5)    
2007 Box3 24 Mar   12 Apr 14 Apr 9 21 Apr 4 May (note 5)    
2008 Box1 (GT) 26 Mar
(note 4)
29 Mar 12 Apr 22 Apr 5 26 Apr (note 6)      
2008 Box2 11 Mar 17 Apr 12 Apr 18 Apr 11 26 Apr 9 May 20 May 28 May 10
2008 Box3 (GT) 29 Mar
(note 7)
8 May 7 May 9 May 5 13 May 25 May (note 8)    
2009 Box1 13 Mar   20 Apr 22 Apr 9 3 May 16 May 1 June 4 June 2
2009 Box2 18 Feb   6 Apr 11 Apr 12 21 Apr 3 May   24 May 6
2010 Box1 20 Feb 18 Apr 22 Apr 23 Apr 10 30 Apr 14 May 27 May 4 Jun 3
(note 9)
2010 Box2 20 Feb 7 Apr 12 Apr 16 Apr
(note 10)
           
2010 Box3 15 Apr   22 Apr 24 Apr 8 29 Apr 12 May 25 May 30/31 May 5
2011 Box1 24 Feb 9 Apr 10 Apr 12 Apr
(note 11)
14 22 Apr 4 May   23/26 May 7
2011 Box2 10 Mar 29 Mar 29 Mar 12 Apr 10 19 Apr 1 May 14 May 21 May 10
2011 Box3 21 Mar 6 Apr 10 Apr 14 Apr 10 22 Apr 4 May   23 May 9
2012 Box1 19 Feb 5 Apr  About 10 Apr 14 Apr 10 26 Apr 10 May 28 May 30 May 3
2012 Box2 7 Feb 3 Apr 28 Mar 10 Apr 9 19 Apr 1 May 18 May 22 May 6
2012 Box3 (note 12)                  
2013 Box1 1 Apr
(note 13)
19 Apr 21 Apr 26 Apr 8 3 May 17 May (note16)    
2013 Box2 1 Apr
(note 13)
17 Apr 12 Apr 23 Apr 11+10
(note 14)
2 May
 9 May
16 May 30 May 5/6 Jun 12!
2013 Box3 (note 15)                  
2014 Box1 4 Mar 4 Apr 18 Mar 7 Apr 9 15 Apr 27 Apr (note18)    
2014 Box2 11 Mar 4 Apr 19 Mar 8 Apr 11 17 Apr 30 Apr 14 May 20 May 7
2014 Box3 (note 17)                  
2015 Box1 20 Mar 11 Apr 9 Apr 21 Apr 8 28 Apr 10 May ? 30/31 May 6
2015 Box2 5 Mar 11 Apr 1 Apr 16 Apr 9+9
(note 19)
25 Apr 7 May ? 27 May 12!
2015 Box3 28 Mar 13 Apr 13 Apr 17 Apr 7 26 Apr 8 May (note20) - -
2016 Box1 9 Apr 16 May   17 May 7 22 May 3 Jun (note21)    
2016 Box2 3 Mar 21 Apr   20 Apr 19? 30 Apr 16 May 31 May 3/4 Jun 6
2016 Box3 9 Apr 27 Apr   1 May 8 6 May 19 May      
2017 Box1 1 Mar                  
2017 Box2                    
2017 Box3                    
2018 Box1 21 Mar 19 Apr 21 Apr 21 Apr 9 29 Apr 12 May 28 May 31 May/1 Jun 9
2018 Box2 20 Mar See Summary 10 May 10 May 9 16 May 29 May 13 June    
2018 Box3 No nest this year yet again!              
2019 Box1 20 Mar 1 Mar 9 Apr 13 Apr 11 22 Apr 4 May 15 May 24/25 May 9
2019 Box2 4 Mar 31 Mar 29 Mar 3 Apr 11 13 Apr 26 Apr 12 May 17/18 May 8
2020 Box1 7 Feb 28 Feb 9 Apr 16 Apr 9 23 Apr 5 May 15 May 23/24 May 6
2020 Box2 25 Feb 10 Apr 9 Apr 14 Apr 9 22 Apr 5 May
(note 22)
     
2021 Box1 21 Feb   29 Mar 17 Apr 6 22 Apr 4 May 24 May 26 May 3
2021 Box2 1 Apr 25 Apr (note 23)              
2022 Box1 8 Mar 19-26 Mar
(note 24)
31 Mar 11 Apr 10 19 Apr 30 Apr-6 May
(note 24)
16 May 22 May 7
2022 Box2 19-26 Mar
(note 24)
  15 Apr (note 25)            
2023
Box 1
                   
2023 Box2                    
2024 Box1 18 Mar                  
2024 Box2 21 Mar
(note 26)
7 Apr 8 Apr 11 Apr 10 19 Apr 2 May 15 May 20/21 May 10!

 

Note 1.  After the first 8 eggs had been laid, a fight over possession of the nest took place.  Fresh nesting material was brought in and nearly 3 weeks later the new hen started laying.  By the time that a further 3 eggs had been laid the original clutch had resurfaced and she probably thought she had laid all 11!  Six eggs eventually hatched and five chicks fledged.

Note 2.  Three chicks were taken from the nest box by a great spotted woodpecker shortly before they fledged.

Note 3. The female disappeared shortly after she had completed the nest.  The male continued to call her and bring food to the nest for her for over two weeks.

Note 4.  A great tit pair occupied Box1 these years.  Incubation and fledging times differ little from those of bluetits.

Note 5. Three days after hatching, all the chicks in this box were dead.  How they died is not known for certain, but is believed to be due to lack of food..

Note 6.  This nest was deserted for unknown reasons early on 1st May.

Note 7.  This nest was started by a bluetit but deserted before the nest was completed or eggs laid.  The nest box was subsequently taken over by a great tit who started adding more material on 7th May.  The rest of the dates relate to the great tit's occupancy.

Note 8.  After a couple of days, the male great tit seemed to lose interest in bringing food to the nest.  He only visited infrequently and on the third day the chicks started dying.  By the morning of the fifth day, all the chicks were dead.

Note 9.  The male bluetit disappeared during egg laying and only 3 of the 10 eggs hatched.  The female managed to bring these chicks to a successful fledging by herself. 

Note 10.   The female disappeared shortly after being fed by her partner at 11.30am on Saturday 17th April, the day after she laid her first egg.  The male continued to visit the nest box once each day for several days.  We fear the female must have been predated.

Note 11.  Two females laid eggs in this nest box and then competed to see which would incubate the eggs.  Amy won that competition!

Note 12.  At the time we would have expected the bluetit pair interested in this box to have started building a nest, our next door neighbour was building a car port the other side of the hedge and only a few feet away from the nest box.  This may have contributed to the lack of a nest being built in Box3 this year.

Note 13.  The very cold early Spring meant that the nests in both Box1 and Box2 were started in a very haphazard way.  1st April was around the right date for both.

Note 14.  Two females shared this nest box.  Sally laid 11 eggs and Scruff laid about 10 making about 21 in total.  The first egg was laid by Sally on 23rd April and Scruff's first egg was laid on 1st May.  They both laid eggs for 3 days before Sally stopped laying.

Note 15.  The use of the next door neighbour's car port  was sufficiently disturbing to put birds off using Box3 again this year.  We shall have to find a new location for this box in 2014

Note 16.  The female parent disappeared sometime during the afternoon of 25th May.  Without the female to keep them warm overnight, the chicks all died.

Note 17.  Some time last December a bluetit roosted in this box for several days.  This was sufficient excuse not to move the box this year.  However, the bluetit stopped roosting and again no nest was built.

Note 18.  Three days after they had hatched out, Georgie's chicks started dying.  One the first day, one a couple of days later and by five days later they were all dead.  No clues at to the cause of this have been forthcoming.

Note 19.  As in 2013 (see Note 14) two females shared this nest box.  Suzie and Rosie started laying on the same day and the number of eggs increased by 2 each day until the total was 18.  They then both stopped laying.

Note 20.  What happened to the chicks in this box is a mystery.  Perhaps the female was predated and the male could not manage to look after them by himself.  Perhaps they caught some bug or other - who can tell.  All we know is that it is another failure to add to the already extensive catalogue of failures in Box3!

Note 21.  Patch, the male bluetit in Box1, was last seen on 24th May, the day the last egg in this box was laid.  Whether he was predated or just decided he wasn't interested is not known.  His disappearance meant certain death for the chicks.

Note 22.  Drake, the male bluetit in Box2, was last seen bringing food to Daisy, on May 5th, the day the eggs started hatching. He disappeared around 8:10am that day. The chicks all died about 3 days later.

Note 23.  In spite of building the nest and doing several nesting wriggles, Scruffy did nothing more.  Visits from at least 2 BTs and GTs continued until the last GT visit on 18th May.  No sign of a male BT was ever seen.

Note 24.   I was on holiday during this period and was therefore unable to fix this date precisely.

Note 25.   As happened last year, the female never roosted in this box and no eggs were laid.

Note 26.   This is complicated by the fact that the nest was started by a bluetit on 21 March but taken over by a coal tit who started adding more nesting material on 4 April.