There have been a couple of dramas on the nest box front this weekend. Firstly, I have had a pair of house sparrows showing a bit too much interest in the oak tree nest box, that already has a pair of blue tits nesting in it. They had laid four eggs when, on Saturday, I managed to capture some footage of the sparrow coming into the nest box when the blue tit was not there. They searched around in the nest and destroyed some, if not all, of the eggs. You can see the female sparrow with pieces of shell in her beak. They stayed around the nest box for about half an hour, before leaving.
Some time later, the blue tit nervously returned. She had a look around the nest and also removed some egg shell debris. She has been back a couple of times during the day, but has not roosted in there ,as she normally would do. I am not sure if this is the end of this nest box now, or whether this pair will return. The sparrows do not seem to have been back today. I wonder how common this is?
I am uploading some video, but some more photos can be seen on my website here.
I was then in the garden and there was a lot of commotion around the side nest box. This has a great tit nesting in it. The nest is built, but I have not seen any eggs yet. A pair of blur tits were also looking into the nest box and the great tits returned. For about ten minutes, these bird battled each other… blue tit and great tit locked by the feet, tumbling through the air, twittering and fighting over and over again. There was a lot of posturing and I was surprised at the aggression displayed. One of the great tits went into the box and sat tight (I presume it was the female). She is back roosting in there tonight.
Finally, the great tit in the discovery box seems to be incubating. She has stopped at the five eggs. The blue tit in the plum tree box also has five eggs now… She briefly displayed them today before covering them over with fluff and feathers. I don’t think she has finished laying yet.
Jackdaws have lost interest in my oak tree kestrel box, although sporadic visits by a different pair are still happening in the barn kestrel box. They are sitting in my tawny boxes as well!.
Mice, fox and hedgehogs still visiting every night, so if you have 5 minutes, check out my live cams.