National Nest Box week 2013

It is national nest box week 2013 a yearly event to help promote bird boxes run by the BTO.

To celebrate we have our nest cams up early - www.birdboxesonline.co.uk

scroll down to the middle of the page to see the live feed

as it is so early we only have a little bit of activity during the day in the boxes but from about 5.30 pm we have a Great Tit roosting in one of our boxes

Give it a go - visit our shop to buy a bird box and camera

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Great Tits

More Great Tits in one of our boxes. This box is 70 metres away from the recorder with a join in the cable. Its sort of an exercise to see the physical limits withy different cameras and kit

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Great Tit Swaying

The curious swaying - possible explanation at end of video

www.birdboxesonline.co.uk

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Roosting in the box

The Great Tit has started roosting in the box on the back fence

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Wing flapping

Wing flapping

It seems to mean many things. The male does this when in his newly found nest box as in the video above. The female does this when demanding food as part of the mating and it also seems to reinforce the bonds between male and female. It is also used practically when the female is sitting on the nest and requires food. 

The young also use it when newly fledged to indicate they want feeding.

I'm guessing it is a general signal and as the ideas communicated between birds ( food, sex, territory and alarm) are fairly basic and the signal need not be complicated. I am willing to be proved wrong on this by the way, I just don't think they have the time or brain capacity for anything else apart from basic survival stuff.

Great Tit chick doing the shaking wing thing. The parent is on the feeder below

 

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More early visitors

More early visitors in 2013

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Blue Tits exploring box

Blue Tits exploring the pavo 700 tvl birdbox

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still image from footage

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Snow visitors

Tamping down the snow and spreading some food out for the ground feeders certainly helped

 

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Early Visitors

A few early visitors to the boxes - blue tits and great tits. Have not even had time to set up a proper camera

www.birdboxesonline.co.uk

birdbox camera

birdbox with camera

birdbox with webcam

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Hedgehogs and Green Woodpeckers

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Hedgehog

Finally a hedgehog in the hedgehog house

 

This video was taken using our 700 tvl camera kit

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Mouse

Another unexpected visitor in the hedgehog box

 

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Camera day

 Today i took my camera with me on my normal travels.

Squirell having a loaf in the sun. Quite cute when not stealing the birdfood. This was up on leith hill - i travelled up there and only got a good picture of a squrrel, could have looked out my kitchen window! Recently on the hill i've seen tree creeper, red kite, buzzard, lesser spotted woodpecker and the day i had my camera? squirell....

A really tatty looking Robin taken in the garden

Swallow on the overhead wires at the workshop. The workshop is down on the Sussex coast just outside L.A. - for those who know i dont have to explain it.There is an outbuilding that they nest in there. They are so acrobatic flying about. Sometimes they have come through the open door in the workshop and turned around on a six pence and flown out again. If my co worker was not there i would not have beleived how quick it was.  I guess this one must have been out doing stuff of a stuff type nature as the thin white mark near his tail is a cobweb. There are always a good selection of birds at the workshop - you'd never think sparrows were in decline. Goldfinches, buzzards, egrets and barn owls are all regulars there

A rather majestic looking blackbird on the lawn 

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Fox in Daylight

With the nights being so short, a lot of the birds and animals that would be active at night are now about evenings and mornings

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Great Tits

Great Tits

At this time of year I can always hear the insistant chirpings of the young wanting to be fed whether it be SParrows, blue tits or great tits. I love the little wing display and tthe "please feed me!" look on their faces. ( i can hear the baby Greater Spotted woodpecker doing the exact same thing through the window as i write this!

I took this sequence of a Great Tit. Chances are it is one of the chicks from the nest box we had as they don't roam far.

 

www.birdboxesonline.co.uk

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