Nest Box Diary 2009

Week 2 - 12th April

On Sunday 12th April, much more nest material was brought into the box by the female. The male was chaperoning her between the nest box and wherever she flew for nest material or food, but contributed nothing to the nest building. Already, one can envisage the nest cup being positioned away from the hole, as is their wont.

Progress seemed slow on the 13th, even though she had started work on the nest very early (before 6:15AM). Throughout the day, more large pieces of dead grass were added to the structure, all the time keeping the central cup area free. She started to add a few pieces of moss here and there; often, when she arrived in the nest box with some moss, it was as if she didn't know where to put it, looking first here then there, before eventually dropping it somewhere!

At 6:30AM on 14th, the nest had quite a bit of moss in place. Through the day, more moss was added before switching to animal hair and wool (we scattered some wool that we had bought last year among the shrubs), but she preferred to strip our textile-based hanging basket liners! Surprisingly, at turned 7-O'clock in the evening, she returned to the nest and settled down for a night's sleep.

During the next day, she visited fewer times but generally brought small amounts of hair and what looked like downy feathers.

Friday was much cooler and she was hardly seen all day, the nest looked no different to the day before and we were starting to worry. However, later that evening she reappeared, snuggling down for yet another night's sleep.

On Saturday morning there was a superb surprise - two eggs! Great Tits lay one egg each day normally, so she had most likely laid one on Friday but ensured it was covered by nest material.

Looking more like a nest (12 April)	Compacting grass by spreading wings (12 April)
Nest building started before we awoke (13 April)	Does she know she is being watched? (13 April)
Really taking shape now (14 April)	By the end of the day (14 April)
Fast asleep - first night in the nest (14 April)	More down and hair added (15 April)
Saturday - two eggs (18 April)