I have strange cloud of melancholia washing over me as I write this. The MA course that I had started but couldn't finish has just ended. I am sad about this but I know I made the right decision. Anyway, may I take this opportunity to wish all of the remaining students on the course all the best.
Now on to the blue tits. We have put up a number of nest boxes n the garden this year and to date only one has been used by a family of blue tits. Over the past few days the chicks have become louder and louder as they demand more and more food from their parents. The chicks are starting to pop their heads out into the wide world and so today I thought I would take sometime to record this.
The blue tits are incredibly pugnacious. They will tell you to get of the way whilst they go and feed their chicks and we have become obedient to their shrill demands. This makes it sound that we are bothering the birds, nothing could be further from the truth. The nest box is above the garden shed and so we have to go in and out with gardening tools. However, when we hear or see the blue tits we get out of the way.
Over the days the parents have become more and more bedraggled - this is not uncommon amongst blue tits. They work really hard - go in and out the nest box about every two or three minutes. that kind of effort will take its toll. However, they have nearly reached the end of this batch of chicks - within a day or so they will fledge. The parents will continue to feed them for a few days before starting the whole process again. Their will to survive is staggering but really it is a numbers game. Out of a clutch of six perhaps only one will survive so they have to have more than one clutch just to maintain the numbers.
Simon Marchini LRPS
Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini
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