I witnessed a Great Tit with a grub or caterpillar in its beak, obviously agitated with me, so I went inside and assumed they were nesting in the Tit Box.
I've just done a recon mission in the same courtyard. There IS a family of Great Tits nesting in the EA courtyard, but NOT in the Tit box! They have decided to shun that and plump for a strange hollow wooden post or box, shoved right in the corner of the courtyard, almost hidden from view. This post does have a 'lid' on it, but the edge has chipped away, giving the birds space to fly in and out - they are literally nesting about 2 foot off the floor inside this post or box!
I peeped in (of course) - it's quite a big gap, so the nest was quite well lit, and this is the scene (or type of scene that I saw ( taken from a website) - I haven't got the camera on me at the moment).
My guess is that these young Great Tits are the same sort of stage of development as the Scargill's offspring at the moment...NB. 14/05/07. Here is a photo of the ACTUAL nest, taken by me in a few seconds whilst both parents were away. You will just be able to make out 4 nestlings at the top of the shot. I think there were 7 all in all, but 3 were hiding in the shadows - probably petrified!
I stuck around for a few minutes after taking this shot, to make sure the parents returned as normal with food for their chicks. They did! No need to worry!
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