Photo-a-Day  (Wednesday, 5th June, 2024)

Isn't he blue !
They nearly wear themselves out at this time of year. Lovely that make good use of your nesting box David.

I had a lovely hand made nest box similar to that one and it was taken over by wasps! What a job I had getting rid of the evil little creatures. The Blue Tit is guarding its territory well.

We have two types of bird boxes attached to the bungalow. We have never had any residents to either box.

Very well captured David, lovely photo.
Easily distinguished by the blue cap on its head whereas the Great Tit has a black cap.

Not seen a bird picture on PaD for ages and this is a good one. A felted roof too . Luxury .

Beautiful ! My son has some in his garden.x

What a beautiful, intelligent little face he has! And there isn't a lovelier sound in the world than birdsong. Thankyou for sharing this lovely photo.

Good one David.

Our little bird box disintegrated so I got a plastic one to hang on the nearby tree It doesn’t look as pretty but the little birds don’t mind because as soon as I fill it up they seem to spend all day emptying it again .

Good to have them lodging in the garden. I'm not a twitcher, but did Vera Lynn sing about these colourful birds flying over the white cliffs of Dover, or did she mean spitfires ?

Nice photo David.

Sadly it wasn't a happy ending ,the parents left the nest, I think, that week we had that heavy rain, I think they where struggling to find food ,they were not making enough visits to sustain the young.
There was three dead young and three clear eggs in box.
It was a new box I made , put up in 2022 ,nothing in 2023.
The photo was taken with a Tamron 300mm x70 telephoto VC lens @1/500s f5.3 for the camera buffs , thanks for your nice comments , David.

We've got two on the front of our house, one is occupied this year and I've enjoyed watching them flying across from the neighbours nonstop throughout the day with mouthful of
food from my telly watching electric
chair.
But I've not seen them this last week so I'm thinking they fledge off.

Well taken David. You would need a fairly fast shutter to catch one of these. I have had a few in my garden but haven’t managed to get a good photo of one yet.

Your lucky to have them nesting at all David I’ve had no luck with my box in 7 years,they do bob in but never stay,by the way was looking at your family photo with your father and Grandfather etc with the milking equipment the sive that your grandfather is holding I remember changing the filter regularly and you obviously know why the milking stool has only three legs don’t you.

I'm in agreement with everyone else in that it's a superb photo David, and sad news about the chicks, I'd imagine that there'll be a lot more casualties too this week with this very cold wind blowing in, it was more warmer in February.

Until a few years ago we had a nesting box on shed some years we were lucky to see them fledge other times they were scared off by cats.
Only recently and after them treating the lawn like a latrine I found the perfect humane solution.
In the area they frequent, put a cucumber down. I have had one on the lawn and one the wall at the bottom of the garden and haven’t seen cat it over two months.
If you don’t believe it works, look on Google or YouTube for ‘Cats and Cucumbers’, cats are terrified of cucumbers. You may choke laughing.

When the BBC's Springwatch began last week the presenters were very excited to be able to show a blue tit's nest for the first time. In the past the programme has gone out too late to catch them nesting.
Sadly, it didn't go well as we saw chick after chick dying - it seems from lack of food. The parents were returning to the nest with food only a few times a day, when they should have been bringing food dozens of times every day.
Most birds nest to match the optimum time for the availability of food for their young.

I had blue tits for quite a few years coming into the same box then bees took over.These bees were attacked by other bees and became a nuisance.I had to take the box down and it was full of grubs that had eaten the wood inside. We always enjoyed watching the blue tits.

Colin, re the cucumbers ..animals can be very complicated.. we used to have a beautiful Persian cat who would be sat on top of the shed at the bottom of the garden, but the moment I sliced into a cucumber while preparing a salad he could smell it and come running into the kitchen for a slice of it.

Bluetits nest boxes should be facing North to be more successful.

TD the Vera Lynn song was actually written by an American pair Walter Kent and Nat Burton - who had not been to to Britain- and who did not know that bluebirds (the North American species) did not exist in the UK. Its still a great song.

Carolaen thanks for your interesting explanation. I agree it's still a great song.

That's correct Alan facing north , a good overhang on roof ,no perch, 25mm or 1inch hole for blue tits , 28mm Great Tits ,about 4 , 4mm holes in the bottom for drainage if they get water in.