Its been 19 days since the first
of the eggs hatched and today the last of the chicks have left the nest.
It has been a busy time for the parents whilst
they constantly fed them and kept the nest clean. The mother has been attentive
and tried to keep them all fed and at times it almost looked like she was doing
a head count, before then diving under the chicks and seemingly ensuring that
none got lost under the brood. After all she did have eight to look after and
in a nest box that has got to be a tight squeeze.
Initially the mother was sitting
in the nest overnight to keep her brood warm, but as they grew and space became
limited the chicks were left huddled together for warmth, as by this point they
had a reasonable amount of feathers.
It was two weeks before the first
of the fledglings left the nest, they were both of a good size and this freed
up room in the nest for the others. It was also apparent at this point that one
of the chicks hadn’t made it. A few more days past and she tried in vain to get
the next two chicks to leave the nest. They obviously thought they were onto a
good thing and made no attempts to leave.
Yesterday we lost a second chick
and overnight we lost another. It is hard to believe that they can survive for
so long and then die. I don’t know if it is just survival of the fittest, the
others were bigger and stronger and maybe they got most of the food.
Today the last two chicks have
left the nest, making that four fledglings in total. Whilst the nest now lies
empty the fledglings cannot be too far away. I keep seeing the blue tits in the
garden and they keep disappearing into the hedge at the back of the garden. All
I need now is a glimpse of the new additions to the family.
