Greatbluehopefuls nest box 2019 & 2020 - Kildare,Ireland
May 2, 2021 7:55:47 GMT
karenupnorth, YorksherLass, and 1 more like this
Post by greatbluehopeful on May 2, 2021 7:55:47 GMT
Good morning Bird lovers! How is everyone?
Sitting here on this lovely sunny May bank holiday Sunday morning and I thought I'd pop in and see how you all are!
Lovely to see the forum a buzz with activity again this year. Its brilliant. Sorry I haven't been in before now....
(I have been actively & deliberately trying to reduce my screen time in general. Kind of a new resolution sort of thing. As mentioned above I created the "Brambly Ramblings" Facebook page to quickly catalogue any interesting comings and goings in the garden. Two minutes, pop up an update and its done. I was a terrible one for falling into an internet black hole for hours on end!! ha,ha!!!
)
Anyway my year in summary:
Great Tit nest - four eggs, chicks now all hatched over yesterday and this morning.
Blue Tit nest - six eggs so far....quite possible there may be one more today but can't tell as she has them well hidden.
Bat Box - no activity that I'm aware of.
Hedgehog box - Hedgehog comes and goes....slept a few nights in the box when the nights were colder but no real activity at present.
Garden watch - Foxes still coming and going but over all, its been very quiet over all.
Roof eaves - West facing - Sparrows nest .
So, this is a big change from my previous decade of wishing and hoping and having absolutely no interest!!! So, needless to say, its been such a joy.
All three of my bird boxes, plus one more decorative bird feeder box which we had placed on a low branch on a tree had over-wintering roosters. Three male Blue Tits and one female Great Tit.
The Great Tit went on to build her nest where she had been roosting in the shed box.
So this year, I have the pleasure of one Great Tit nest in the shed box and one Blue Tit nest in the top view east facing box.
This is my first ever Blue Tit nest so very excited about that. Last year was my first ever nest with the Great Tit, if you all recall!!!!
We came close to a second Blue Tit nest in the third box, which is on the north of the house, but it was unexplainably abandoned close to the finish and there has been no interest in this box ever since.
All my bird boxes are homemade and either came with us in the 2019 move, or were built after we arrived here, so none of these boxes were ever previously used so its a first for them all.
The location of the Great Tit box had been used with a surprise late nest last year, but that was with the old Aldi box, which was switched out for a homemade cedar box with a new camera.
The old Aldi box went into retirement was destined for the fire, until in a terrible storm hit in late January and the bird feeder box where my fourth rooster was sheltering was blown down and smashed.
So we had to do an emergency replacement with the Aldi box, and thankfully it was taken by the fourth rooster after a few days.So, the Aldi box lives to see another season!!! It had great interest by sparrows, but I think because it is too low in the tree, it is probably deemed to be unsafe by any nesting birds. It was never supposed to be placed with a nest in mind.
That's the update so far...
Wishing you all the best in this nesting season, and I hopeful that everyone has a successful year once again.
Sitting here on this lovely sunny May bank holiday Sunday morning and I thought I'd pop in and see how you all are!
Lovely to see the forum a buzz with activity again this year. Its brilliant. Sorry I haven't been in before now....
(I have been actively & deliberately trying to reduce my screen time in general. Kind of a new resolution sort of thing. As mentioned above I created the "Brambly Ramblings" Facebook page to quickly catalogue any interesting comings and goings in the garden. Two minutes, pop up an update and its done. I was a terrible one for falling into an internet black hole for hours on end!! ha,ha!!!
)Anyway my year in summary:
Great Tit nest - four eggs, chicks now all hatched over yesterday and this morning.
Blue Tit nest - six eggs so far....quite possible there may be one more today but can't tell as she has them well hidden.
Bat Box - no activity that I'm aware of.
Hedgehog box - Hedgehog comes and goes....slept a few nights in the box when the nights were colder but no real activity at present.
Garden watch - Foxes still coming and going but over all, its been very quiet over all.
Roof eaves - West facing - Sparrows nest .
So, this is a big change from my previous decade of wishing and hoping and having absolutely no interest!!! So, needless to say, its been such a joy.
All three of my bird boxes, plus one more decorative bird feeder box which we had placed on a low branch on a tree had over-wintering roosters. Three male Blue Tits and one female Great Tit.
The Great Tit went on to build her nest where she had been roosting in the shed box.
So this year, I have the pleasure of one Great Tit nest in the shed box and one Blue Tit nest in the top view east facing box.
This is my first ever Blue Tit nest so very excited about that. Last year was my first ever nest with the Great Tit, if you all recall!!!!
We came close to a second Blue Tit nest in the third box, which is on the north of the house, but it was unexplainably abandoned close to the finish and there has been no interest in this box ever since.
All my bird boxes are homemade and either came with us in the 2019 move, or were built after we arrived here, so none of these boxes were ever previously used so its a first for them all.
The location of the Great Tit box had been used with a surprise late nest last year, but that was with the old Aldi box, which was switched out for a homemade cedar box with a new camera.
The old Aldi box went into retirement was destined for the fire, until in a terrible storm hit in late January and the bird feeder box where my fourth rooster was sheltering was blown down and smashed.
So we had to do an emergency replacement with the Aldi box, and thankfully it was taken by the fourth rooster after a few days.So, the Aldi box lives to see another season!!! It had great interest by sparrows, but I think because it is too low in the tree, it is probably deemed to be unsafe by any nesting birds. It was never supposed to be placed with a nest in mind.
That's the update so far...
Wishing you all the best in this nesting season, and I hopeful that everyone has a successful year once again.
