September 2007 Diary

1st September

Firstly welcome back to all our visitors (and thank you for coming back!)

It seems like ages since we updated this diary and website, but June & July are always quiet months.

During August, we can safely (and by law) clean out the bird boxes. In the first part of this diary entry we take a look inside each of the boxes, this years nest and a general update.

General Update

Since the chicks left our bird box, we have heard and seen the chicks and both Bluey & Fluffy around. The cameras have been off and sadly no House Sparrows took over the unused box.

At the beginning of August we went to test all the cameras, making sure none had gone wrong. It was a good thing we did as the main tansformer had blown. Happily a new one has been found and the cameras will be back up and running over the next few days.

We are also going to be continuing with the bird boxes surveys over our local park in 2008, with possibly some new boxes be built.

We are also in the process of changing our website design. A slightly different look will be coming and launced in 2008.

Blue Tit Box 2

This box was not used for a broad this year. Our resident Blue Tit did use it sometimes for sleeping in, during the winter months. At the beginning of June the enterance hole was increased to 30mm. During the last week of July a bird appeared to have been using the box. We have been keeping an eye for a rooster or new resident, but so far no luck.

In August we cleaned the box out and used hot water to kill any bugs.

	Picture 1: The enterance hole to Blue Tit Box 2	Picture 2: Inside Blue Tit Box 2

Blue Tit Box 1

Ten eggs were laid and three chicks successfully fledged from this box at the beginning of June. Since then this box and nest have been left and unused.

The enterance hole to this box has changed from when the box first went up. Bluey (the male) has made quite a mess, with him chipping away some of the wood. The bottom of the enterance hole has seen the paint come off were both Bluey & Fluffy have been going in and out with food.

The nest was around 4cm deep and was mostly made of moss and grass. The nest cup was soft wool
(most likely some hanging basket liner) and hair.

Whilst cleaning and removing the nest we found that many bugs had made their home in the box. This box was cleaned with hot water and scrubbed out with some soapy water

	Picture 3: The enterance hole to Blue Tit Box 1	Picture 4: Inside Blue Tit Box 1

	Picture 5: The nest inside Blue Tit Box 1	Picture 6: The nest cup

Both boxes are now empty and clean. Now we are keeping a eye on the boxes, for a rooster. Last year (2006) we saw the Blue Tit's return at the end of August.

So far we have not seen any roosters, but the odd visit has been recorded. Will we see a rooster soon? Stay tuned . . . .

Until the new year will be only issuing weekly updates to our diary pages. In 2008 we will return back to our normal diary pages.