April 2006 Diary

13th April

Nesting has finally began! Around 18:00 a female blue tit entered box 1 with a beak full of moss. Whilst in the box the male was outside calling. She was not happy with him being near and made some calls to scare him off. It did the trick!. She came back two more times before 19:20, with more moss. Normally we see the male return to our boxes, to roost. We were in for a shock. Sadly our laptop decided to crash at the very moment it all happend. The female returned to the box with some more moss and then ruffled up and went to sleep. The first time she has roosted in our box! The male came back to check on his new partner, but was not welcome!.

With nest building now starting in box 1, we belive box 2 will remain empty this year.

Our rooster has now been forced out! Were he now goes to roost we are not sure. So finally it looks like our idea of cleaning out box 1 and removing the enterance tube was a success. We have included a video clip of the females first few visits, with nesting materials. It's called "First Bits". Please visit our "Videos" section.

Female outside box 1 with nesting material	Inside Box 1
Female outside box 1 with more nesting material	Female roosting in box 1 for the first time