Nest Box Diary 2007

Week 4 - 1st April

At the beginning of the week, our female, who we have affectionately named "Hokey", for reasons that will become evident, appeared to have renewed enthusiasm for her nest and was continuing to add even more fluffy nest material, comprising mostly animal hair.

On Sunday (1st), she brought a beakful of hair into the nest box and deposited it on top of the nest. She sometimes deposited the hair onto the nest material, in or around the nest cup. Other times she turned round and round seemingly not knowing what to do with it, then flew out of the nest box with it, only to return a few moments later and repeat the whole exercise. On one occasion she flew in and out with the same hair 17 times!

You put your left arm in, your left arm out
In out, in out, you shake it all about
You do the Hokey Cokey and you turn around
That's what it's all about
Whoa-o the Hokey Cokey
...

The only possible explanation for her flying in and out with the same clump of hair is that she is teasing it on the rose bushes outside the nest box, but each time she was observed flying to a perch in a nearby tree she appeared not to do anything with the hair.

During the rest of the week there was very little activity. Most days she visited the box during the morning, occasionally bringing a beakful of hair and adding it to the nest, and by Thursday (5th) there was practically nothing happening - she was seen once on Friday (6th).

Meanwhile, her mate was picking fights with House Sparrows and one encounter lead to a female House Sparrow and our male Blue Tit tumbling out of the sky with claws locked together into scrub at the end of a neighbour's garden.

"Hokey" shuffles about to make nest cup (1st)	Female in box at around midday (1st)
A little more hair is added (2nd)	A little more hair is added (3rd)
A little more hair is added (4th)	A little more hair is added (5th)
A little more hair is added (6th)	A little more hair is added (7th)