Bluetit Diary    May 2026 (10)

As I said yesterday, I set the system so that it started at 5:30am this morning to make sure I didn't miss anything.  I needn't have bothered as none of the chicks left the nest box early.

That was just as well as the early photos were spoiled by what looks like condensation on the camera lens.  Fortunately, it seems to have evaporated fairly quickly as the camera is warming up following it being switched on.  I've never noticed this before but normally the cameras come on at 7:30am and by the time I have started the system some time after 8am, the trouble has cleared.

Here you can see that all the remaining 8 chicks are present, and that one of them is looking out of the exit hole.

This is a close-up view from the outside.  I wonder what it feels when it looks outside for the first time.

It's now half past 6 and all the 8 remaining chicks are still in the nest box.  None of them is showing the slightest interest in leaving it! 

But suddenly just over an hour later, a chick looks out of the box. 

Is it going to fly?  It looks like it! 

But no!  It suddenly found it all too much and retreated inside the box again.

A couple of minutes later it was back again - or perhaps another chick was having a look.  It looks as though it's calling for help!

Will it fly? 

Yes!  This time it did!  (Chick 2 - 7:55:50) 

The chicks that remain seem shocked by what has happened 

But quite quickly, the next chick jumps up to the exit hole and looks out. 

A parent with food seems to have halted the departures - at least for a short while. 

Directly it's gone the exit looks enticing again. 

A chick hops up to the exit hole again.  But will it leave the nest box?. 

Yes!  This chick didn't hang about.  Less than a minute later it took to the air.

It seems a miracle that chicks that have never seen out of the nest box before can automatically know how to fly so beautifully. 

(Chick 3 - 7:58:28)