Category: 2020

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Defending the box

With all the nesting material pushed behind her and her tail spread she tries to make herself look bigger to put off the blue tit on the outside of the box looking in through the hole. This carries on for about 20 minutes before she eventually leaves.

For reference have a look at her cap. It’s got a pale pointed area at the front and looks like it almost joins to the dark ring around her neck on one side at the back. This is how we differentiate the birds that visit and how we know that this is the last we see of this hen.

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First nest material starts to arrive

It’s getting slightly late in the year to be starting a nest, the blossom is out on the fruit trees and the weather has suddenly turned quite warm. I have scarified the lawn and put a load of moss and grass in a couple of bird feeders that turned out not to be squirrel proof to try and make the process a bit quicker.

As in 2017 we have started to think a name is needed for this bird and so my my niece Anna has been asked to come up with one. Last time (2017) Sophie named the hen Lily.

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Chest rubbing

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqki1UdLmTI[/embedyt]

This is a pretty good sign that this female is interested in building her nest here. Notice the point at the front of her cap and the slight joining of the cap to her body colour at the back of her head. This is how we differentiate between the different birds that visit.

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Shed First Interest

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwToun1Dv8Q[/embedyt]

The box had had a male bird roosting in it for a number of weeks and a large ring of dried droppings had formed, thoroughly stuck to the floor. We had a number of storms with high winds and during this period the male stopped roosting. I took this opportunity to take the box apart and clean it out. A few days later this female visited for the first time. She had been on the outside of the box pecking at the hole a number of times before entering.