Wiggydave10

• I am currently using a Raspberry Pi to run the stream. It uses the Pi Camera NoIR with an IR LED next to it so that we can still see in the dark. The temperature is also being taken very close to the bird box so if you would like to see what the temperature has been like visit that page. All of this runs through a Raspberry Pi.

News:
Click the year to toggle the news


2021
25th February 21
2021, is this the year we get them back again? We've seen a couple of visits so there is hope.
We are also using a different streaming service, Twitch, this year.


2020
2019
24th February 19
A new year, with new hope. The livestream is all set up and fingers crossed we have a better year!


2018
April 18
Nothing has happened this year. Another awaits.


2017
22nd April 17
Think we will have to wait another year to see if we get any blue tits nesting. It seems a bit late for them to start nesting now. Oh well, we just have next year to look forward to!


30th March 17
Not looking promising this year. No activity around the box and have hardly seen any blue tits.


21st January 17
The blue tit box is up and ready for the year. Hopefully we have more luck than last year. We shall see what this year brings.


2016
10th May 16
It has now been several weeks since the last update in which I said the nest has pretty much been fully built. Since then the female has visited nearly every day at least and occasionally brought some feathers in. Recently she has been visiting later and later, but nothing. She would visit about 7:30pm and sit in the nest for a maximum of 15 minutes, but then would leave. Who knows whether she will lay eggs or not.


26th April 16
The nest has pretty much been fully built now. The female seems to just be feathering the nest so hopefully we will see some eggs soon.


23rd April 16
The female certainly continued building the nest. She has built the nest back to the level it was before she emptied it. I think everything is looking up for having baby blue tits this year, but will there be any more surprises thrown our way.


22nd April 16
I spoke to soon yesterday by saying the nest is coming along nicely. The 8 day since the blue tit started nesting everything has suddenly changed drastically since yesterday to now (3:00pm as of writing this). A blue tit arrived at the box this morning at just after 7:00am I watched the blue tit for a minute or so and I thought something seemed different as the blue tit was hesitant about going in and because of the time. The normal blue tit normally doesn't start visiting the box until at least 8:00am and generally not until 9:00-10:00am, so I thought it was a bit odd as well as the blue tit being hesitant. Not long after we quickly saw that there were two blue tits going in and out before the nest started emptying, we clearly had new visitors.

I eventually had to head off to work at 7:45am and didn't see the box again until 9:10am by which time the box was nearly empty. The female blue tit has been visiting every 10-15 minutes and doing some nesting wriggles, but only once has bought anything in with her. I'm not sure at the moment if she is the same blue tit and just restarting, but I assume they are different as the old one always flew in from one direction whereas the new one flies in from the complete opposite side.

The question is, will we have any blue tits nest this year? Who knows. I thought they would nest until this morning, but we will just have to keep watching and hoping. (Check the video below to see clips of them emptying the nest)


UPDATE: It seems as though they are interested in using the box and have brought a few bits of nesting material in. We will see if they continue building tomorrow.


21st April 16
The nest was coming along nicely but the last few days she has only visited the nest a few times, doing some nesting wriggles but not bringing too much nest material in. We shall see what happens!


15th April 16
Well she has certainly moved quickly bring lots of nesting materials in. Looks as though she has half filled the box. She brought quite a bit in before 11-12ish before the rain got heavier which eventually eased off at around 3 at which point she began bringing more nest materials in, every few minutes.


14th April 16
Today is the day! Nesting has begun (and hasn't gone wrong like last year with the fight). She has only brought a few bits in, but we will see over the next few days how it progresses.


7th April 16
After many visits from the blue tits no sign of them starting to build the nest yet. The last few days the female has visited daily and has been doing many nest wriggles!


11th March 16
We had our first blue tit visit the box on the 5th March. The blue tit just had a peek inside but didn't venture in. Since then we haven't seen them visit again until today. At 10:20am today a blue tit visited for about 2 minutes and seemed to be cleaning the box out with what looks like nesting wriggles. We shall see what happens over the next few days and not use of the robin box yet! (Check my youtube playlist for videos in 2016).


27th February 16
The blue tit box is up and ready for the year. Hopefully we have more luck than last year. We also have the addition of a new box, Robin Box. They are both up and running and have seen 2 robins flying past the box but have not had a look in yet. We shall see what this year brings.


Photos
13th April - No nest

14th April - Start of nest

15th April - Half of nest

17th April - Getting there

21st April - Not too much progress

22nd April - Back to an empty box

23rd April (12:00pm) - Filling it back up

2015
15th April 15
We reckon that's it for this year. Sadly we have not seen the blue tits come back, there is always next year though.


3rd April 15
Doesn't look good for the blue tits nesting. We haven't seen any signs of them on the box again although they are around on the bird feeder. We have had a few visits since from what looks like the coal tit we saw the other day. There is only one at the current time, but maybe the partner will join soon.


31st March 15
The day started early with what looks like a coal tit visiting the box for about 30 seconds before disappearing. A little while later the blue tits were back, will they start the nest today? Yes, they brought the first lot of nest material in, looks promising. Things changed about 20 seconds after though.

Another blue tit arrives (we are not sure what gender either blue tits are) and the one in the box gets defensive and starts trying to scare it away. Eventually the second one jumps on in and the fight begins. They start fighting for about 30 seconds to a minute before they both leave. They had both brought nest material so we are not sure whether they both planned on building a nest there. We did have a few revisits from a blue tit, but only one. Is that the end of the nest? We will see over the next few days.


30th March 15
The two blue tits had come back visiting throughout the day. This time it was a proper inspection of the bird box. Looks like they like the box!


29th March 15
We had two blue tits visiting the bird box. After that we had visits throughout the day but only one. Maybe we will see the nest starting soon?!


22nd March 15
In the last month the blue tits have been looking in and around the box, but haven't started nesting yet.


21st February 15
First time the blue tits have ventured inside the box.


17th February 15
Blue tits are seen for the first time looking around the box and popping their heads through the hole.

2016

2015