Tuesday 13th March
Back from Italy. The weather is
cold but dry and our box is still in one piece.
However, the base of the box is now covered with a layer of sphagnum moss,
probably collected from our garden. The lawn and beds are full of moss
this year.
Wednesday 14th March
The aggressive bird's pecking has become quite intensive.
It has taken to attacking the cables leading to the camera, which it has
dragged partially in front of the lens. Clearly,
there is a real chance of the cables being damaged.
The only way we can think of to resolve this is to prevent the birds’
access to this area by installing a glass blocking plate.
A quick phone call to Boxwatch gives us the dimensions of the required
plate. We were distracted from
further progress by hearing that our daughter-in-law was about to give birth to
our third grandchild about a week early! Jessica
Amy was finally born at 22.06hrs.
Thursday 15th March
I have found a glass merchant in Brookwood who cut a piece of plate
glass to the required size for a nominal sum, and I've decided that the best time
to fit it would be first thing in the morning.
This is normally a quiet time in the box and it would also give the birds
as long as possible before dusk to become used to the change in their home.
Friday 16th March
Elizabeth checked that there was no bird obviously inside the box while I
brought the ladder and prepared to install the glass plate.
While installing the plate, I also made sure that the cable was pushed
well out of the way. Considerable damage had already been done to the cable.
There were two holes that had been pecked through both its black outer
and its copper shielding exposing the white insulation surrounding the inner
wire. Next winter, it will probably
be best to replace this short length of cable, but it does not seem necessary
now, provided we can prevent further damage by the bluetits.
Saturday 17th March
Pecker cannot understand what has happened to its home.
Sometimes it clings to the wooden roof that the glass plate rest on and
pecks furiously at the glass. At
other times it tries to fly through it, falling ignominiously to the floor of
the box as a result. Neither bird
slept inside the box this night.
Sunday 18th March
We went granddaughter visiting today. She
is a beautiful little (9lb!) thing with an apparently equable temperament.
On our return, we found to our delight, that there was a bird roosting in
the box again. Whether it is Pecker
or Bashful is not clear at this stage.
Tuesday 20th March
A fine snow fell for most of the day and there was a keen wind.
Again, there was a bird roosting inside the box when we looked at
20.00hrs.
Monday 26th March
The weather has been so bad recently, cold with almost continual rain, and so there has been no significant activity for the past week. Some nights one of our pair would roost in the box and some nights it was empty. However today we recorded an apparent dispute about which bird should spend the night in the box.
The recording starts with a bird in the box. It was fidgeting about, pecking at the wall of the box and generally fussing. Finally after about 5 minutes it left the nest. Soon after, the other bird flew in. You could see it was a different bird because the stripe through its eye was less pronounced, particularly directly behind the eye. It also had a more subdued personality, and this it shortly demonstrated. Less than a minute later the first bird came back and the newcomer promptly left! Over the next 10 minutes, this bird kept coming and going and sometimes a plaintive cheep could be heard from outside. Finally the bird tucked its head under its wing and started to go to sleep.
There was one other piece of excitement.
We had heard the other bird frequently coming to the hole, sometimes
chirruping but leaving without entering. Finally,
it plucked up courage to enter the box but could not bring itself to stay and
left almost immediately. The bird
in residence was disturbed by the invasion, but not seriously and after few
moments went back to sleep.
Friday 30th March
Today is dry and for a change the sun is shining. This has prompted much more interest in the bird box. One of the birds has spent much of the day going in and out and reshuffling the bedding, although not much, if any, new bedding has been brought in. On one occasion, for a brief moment, both birds were in the box together and this time it was a reasonably orderly changeover. They seem to be getting more used to being close to each other, which is just as well if we are to have any chicks this year!