Although
we had realised that Della's nest was more or less finished, I must admit
that we had not expected her to lay her first egg this early. The
season is very late this year - the buds on the oak tree to which Della's
box it fixed are still pretty firmly shut. I hope she has got the
timing right!
Over
in Box3, Rosie (for that's the name we have decided to call her) is busy
nest building again.
Rosie
is just full of nesting wriggles. All females do them but Rosie
appears to do them more than most. I hope her partner (to be called
Will) looks after her properly.
Here
comes Rosie with another load.
Well
she managed to get it into the nest box all right this time!
Another
wriggle ... 
... and another!
I
don't know what is happening here. Somewhere under this lot is Rosie.
You can just see her head upside down at the bottom of the picture.
That's
better. (This picture was taken 1 second later!)
Yet
another wriggle.
And
another. Save your energy for building your nest Rosie, or it won't be
ready for when you want to lay your first egg!
By
the end of the day, this was the state of Rosie's nest. She's done
quite well in the two days she has been building it, but there's still a
long way to go!I hope I have judged the angle that the sideways camera takes pictures correctly. I have assumed an eventual depth of nesting material about 6 centimeters.
Still, if it is wrong, it's too late to do anything about it now!