Our little baby Blue Tits have ALL fledged now!
As suggested last night, I hoped Anna might see the remaining niblets fly the nest sometime before she left for work at 07:10am this morning. I thought I'd probably miss them.
Well... Anna DID see them leave. She took a chair outside at 06:30am for a coffee, and to see if any were leaving.
As she made her way down the garden path, one little niblety yellow fluff-ball, leaped out of the box, panicked, as Anna was there, and flew straight into the side of the next door neighbours' shed! He fell down the side, but thankfully, recovered, flew onto the roof of the shed, and sat there, composing himself for a few minutes, before heading off... somewhere?!
Anna also saw another two leave the nest after that. One pretty-well immediately, and another within 15 minutes or so. Anna left for work shortly after that (reluctantly) as she heard more 'peeping' from inside the box, and knew there was still at least one chick to fledge, possibly more.
I got home from work at 07:15, stuck my head out of the kitchen door, heard the parents calling, and heard a noise from inside the box also. There was at least one baby still in situ!
Unfortunately for me then, nature of a different type did call, and I spent the next 5 minutes or so in the lavatory, reading the newspaper. When I did get out into the garden, it was clear that there was no noise coming from the box, and the last chick HAD gone. I'd bleedi' misse dthe little bugger!
I spent a couple of hours sat in the garden, with the newspaper, hoping to see any of the chicks. I thought I did see two of them, flying towards the brambled railway embankment in their usual bouncy way, but to be honest, I couldn't be 100% positive.
What I DID see though, was Scargill make three returns to the box, with food, to make sure the box really was empty, and all his offspring had gone. He never actually went inside the box today, just looked in through the opening. He didn't see any chick obviously, and flew to his favourite tree to eat the food himself.
I laid on the last of the Waxworms for the two adults, and really hoped they would attract the youngsters too. We STILL don't know how many did fledge eventually. We KNOW 4 did. I think it may have been 5 in total, maybe 6, but 4 AT LEAST.
I managed to take a couple of photos of Scargill and Anne who returned (with no chicks in tow) to snaffle my Waxworms, but was quite upset the chicks had gone, without saying goodbye n all!!!
People on different websites have commented about the sense of 'emptiness' one feels when the nest becomes empty. I now understand.
It's GREAT that our chicks were very strong and healthy, and obviously don't need much support at all now, from Scargill and Anne, but it really is quite sad to not see them AT ALL! We have bought some more Waxworms and Mealworms for any interested Tit that passes by.
We can but hope.
But, in the meantime, here are quite a few of the photos I took yesterday, when fledging began. Most of them are of the first chick to fledge we think - ie the only baby that fledged yesterday. But the photos are not JUST of that baby - look closely, enlarge by clicking, and you'll see subtle differences in their faces which tell them apart as individuals.
Enjoy!
First look outside. Wow! It's a big world!
Not sure about this giant with a camera though!
As suggested last night, I hoped Anna might see the remaining niblets fly the nest sometime before she left for work at 07:10am this morning. I thought I'd probably miss them.
Well... Anna DID see them leave. She took a chair outside at 06:30am for a coffee, and to see if any were leaving.
As she made her way down the garden path, one little niblety yellow fluff-ball, leaped out of the box, panicked, as Anna was there, and flew straight into the side of the next door neighbours' shed! He fell down the side, but thankfully, recovered, flew onto the roof of the shed, and sat there, composing himself for a few minutes, before heading off... somewhere?!
Anna also saw another two leave the nest after that. One pretty-well immediately, and another within 15 minutes or so. Anna left for work shortly after that (reluctantly) as she heard more 'peeping' from inside the box, and knew there was still at least one chick to fledge, possibly more.
I got home from work at 07:15, stuck my head out of the kitchen door, heard the parents calling, and heard a noise from inside the box also. There was at least one baby still in situ!
Unfortunately for me then, nature of a different type did call, and I spent the next 5 minutes or so in the lavatory, reading the newspaper. When I did get out into the garden, it was clear that there was no noise coming from the box, and the last chick HAD gone. I'd bleedi' misse dthe little bugger!
I spent a couple of hours sat in the garden, with the newspaper, hoping to see any of the chicks. I thought I did see two of them, flying towards the brambled railway embankment in their usual bouncy way, but to be honest, I couldn't be 100% positive.
What I DID see though, was Scargill make three returns to the box, with food, to make sure the box really was empty, and all his offspring had gone. He never actually went inside the box today, just looked in through the opening. He didn't see any chick obviously, and flew to his favourite tree to eat the food himself.
I laid on the last of the Waxworms for the two adults, and really hoped they would attract the youngsters too. We STILL don't know how many did fledge eventually. We KNOW 4 did. I think it may have been 5 in total, maybe 6, but 4 AT LEAST.
I managed to take a couple of photos of Scargill and Anne who returned (with no chicks in tow) to snaffle my Waxworms, but was quite upset the chicks had gone, without saying goodbye n all!!!
People on different websites have commented about the sense of 'emptiness' one feels when the nest becomes empty. I now understand.
It's GREAT that our chicks were very strong and healthy, and obviously don't need much support at all now, from Scargill and Anne, but it really is quite sad to not see them AT ALL! We have bought some more Waxworms and Mealworms for any interested Tit that passes by.
We can but hope.
But, in the meantime, here are quite a few of the photos I took yesterday, when fledging began. Most of them are of the first chick to fledge we think - ie the only baby that fledged yesterday. But the photos are not JUST of that baby - look closely, enlarge by clicking, and you'll see subtle differences in their faces which tell them apart as individuals.
Enjoy!
First look outside. Wow! It's a big world!Not sure about this giant with a camera though!
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