Friday 11 May 2012

What a clever girl our blue tit mum is! It's been quite a day and the whole family are tucked up in bed, probably exhausted.

The chicks seem to be well, often causing chaos in the nest cup by clambering over one another and opening their mouth wide in the hope of catching a feed from mum. Their eyes are shut and they are naked - no feathers. In fact really quite pink looking.

The chicks hatched today, day 13 after the last egg was laid. This is about average according to those more in the know than me!

From the last shots taken as the light was fading tonight, it looks like there are 2 eggs left. So, in theory, there are 6 chicks. It's difficult to tell by looking because of the chaos in the nest and the relatively poor camera resolution.

Here's a few more scenes from today. In one you can see mum holding the remains of an empty shell in her beak. She moves them away from the nest to give them more room. Apparently the parents sometimes eat the shells.