This is always a busy time of year for me and lots of the projects that I have planned over the winter months, hopefully, start to come into action!
The nest box projects are always something to look forward to and I have been working hard to try to bring something a little different to the set up this year, as long as some old favourites! A number of these cameras are now live streaming and can be seen via my website and that of my sponsors, CJWildlife. I would like to take this opportunity, again, to thank them for their support as, without them, I could not live stream all of these cameras for you to see!
You can find out more on the ‘NestEnders’ tab on my website.
The Hub nest box, on my oak tree, is always the first to be taken up… possibly by the same blue tit family each year. You can follow the story of this nest box, via the page on my website….
They have been busy building for a few weeks now which is quite early and the box is now full of moss!
I am very excited about this latest project! Following on from the success of my mini mammal box set ups and m bird snack bar, this year I have designed two sitting room nest boxes! Using doll’s house furniture, I have decorated the interiors of two nest boxes and put these up in the garden. I have never tried anything like this before and there is never any guarantee, but initial signs look tentatively promising and the images are looking good! I have called the first one the ‘Garden Sitting Room’ and this camera is live streaming….
i have had some blue tits check it out!
Every day, I check the footage, hoping to see some moss brought in… we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed!
I created a second version as well. I have mounted this up, near the chimney of my property as there is a flat roof below and I have seen the bird investigating holes along there. This box is decorated in a slightly different way and is called the ‘Roof Sitting Room Box’….
We have had a few visits inside and a lot of external looking! #gallery-20184-4 { margin: auto; } #gallery-20184-4 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-20184-4 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-20184-4 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */
I also keep a couple of cameras ‘spare’ as you never know what might pop up in the garden. Yesterday, I spotted this female entering the honeysuckle. I was amazed to find a nest with three eggs! I mounted one of my spare cameras on a tripod and, overtime she got off the nest, I moved the tripod a little closer, until I could see her clearly on the camera. I really hope this nest is successful and many blackbird nest in my garden have been predated by corvids in the past…
I have also put a page on the NestEnders 2019 page, about the Tawny nest at Yew View. You can see all the latest clips from there via this link or follow my blog for weekly updates. The eggs are due to hatch very soon. I just wish the Internet was good enough there to live stream this camera!
As you can imagine, creating all these pages, and updating them, takes a tremendous amount of time but I love documenting and sharing my boxes. I will be adding details on cameras and how I created them. That will come later. For now, the sun is shining and I need to be outside! I hope you enjoy following these stories and please comment on my blog and via Twitter as I love to hear feedback and to know that people are enjoying them as much as I do!
Fingers crossed for a successful season!