Week 1 - 2nd April 2006

The first few days of occupation were missed owing to being away on holiday, but it seems the female had spent most of her time chiselling and tearing chips of wood away from below the hole on the internal face of the front wall. The wood chips were then pushed vigorously into the bottom corners, where the drainage holes are situated, and along the sides (see photograph); this was quite funny at times as her feet would flail beneath her because she couldn't gain purchase on the smooth floor.

The female would then bring lots of dead plant material (which looks like dead Aubrietia) into the box, placing it carefully around the sides of the box, leaving a hole in the centre for the nest cup. Bizarrely, she would then remove almost all the nesting material by picking it up in her beak and tossing it through the hole (located at the top of the photographs and just out of view), and then resume chiselling wood and packing it around the edges. Next, she would fly out of the hole and on to the ground beneath to recollect the previously discarded nesting material.

Occasionally, the male would enter the box but rarely seemed to contribute anything. Indeed, he occasionally received what appeared to be a scolding peck from the female.

Fitting the draught-proofing

Adding nesting material