At
15.51 there is still only one chick.
Here
you can see what looks like a piece of eggshell on the edge of the nest cup,
just below Donna's head. I think she is eating it.
Donna
holds up a piece of eggshell. She ends up by eating it.
At
half past four, two chicks have hatched. They seems to be lively
enough. Here you can see them both gape for food.Mick has not been seen for days. I had hoped that when the big day came, he would reappear, if only to claim all the credit. As each hour passes this seems more and more unlikely. Without Mick, Donna doesn't have a hope of successfully raising the brood.
Perhaps it is better so. You don't want Mick's bad genes to be passed on to another generation of bluetits!
Donna
has another piece of eggshell. A third egg must have hatched!
She
holds the eggshell with a claw against the edge of the nest cup so that she
can more easily eat it.She is using her left foot to hold the eggshell down.
Here
she moves it a short distance before again holding it in her left claw.
A
final picture for the day of Mum and her three chicks.If Mick doesn't appear sometime tomorrow, then we will be watching the equivalent of a car crash in slow motion as the chicks die from cold or starvation.