Finally there were eight eggs (26th April) of which only six have hatched (here you can see five newly hatched) (2nd May).

14th May: After a few days without a connection, we have now restored the link and found it difficult to count how many chicks have hatched and thriving. We think about seven, with five dominant ones. At least one egg can be seen from time to time, so never hatched. This large file shows feeding time - see if you can count them!?

17th May:It appears that only eight chicks seem to have survived. It is difficult to tell how many failed to hatch or failed to thrive in competition for food. Any chicks that hatch late are at a real disadvantage because of their size as the early birds really pile on the weight. Here is a compilation of feeding videos.

18th May: A possible object lesson in survival of the fittest! We can only see seven chicks now, and one of those (bottom the video frame) seems to be weaker/smaller than the others. It is certainly crowded, but they still manage to stretch enough to show off their plumage. We will try to capture footage of the comedy when poor old Dottie tries to sleep - lots of jostling. We may see the chicks leave around 24/25th May!

20th/21st/22nd May: Our mistake! Eight chicks, although the churning made counting hard. The cup has become so crowded that for the last few nights Dottie has been getting precious little sleep. Indeed, this evening (22nd) the chicks have been left alone after both parents spent all day carrying food to the box. Eight birds are overflowing the cup of the nest and they will just fidget, fidget, fidget away - so, Dottie, we do understand! This video tells the story (18Mb, be warned) .

Even in the hot evenings, the mother would sit on her young. The young, on this occasion, decided that a quiet night was called for - although you can see some stirrings around the edge of this deep and comfortable cup (11 May).

2nd May (Day 75): As in previous years, we believe one egg will not hatch. It is important that all chicks hatch roughly at the same time if they are to survive - they grow so quickly that any latecomers have difficulty keeping up in the competition for food. This video clip shows how wind-blown twigs that hit the birdbox cause the six chicks to believe their parents have returned with food. They are, of course, quite blind at this stage - this results in lots of very similar scenes of open beaks when the wind blew  and when a cat clambered nearby. One significant difference with this year's Great Tits is that they eat the faecal sacs from their baby chicks.

11th May (Day 84): Still sightless but noisy - they display some clear markings on their juvenile feathers. We are not sure if all six chicks are thriving?

12th May (Day 85): A peaceful scene of sleeping chicks, dreaming perhaps? A view of wing markings as they fidget.

14 May: (Day 75) Rapid changes are taking place - you can see a dark line down the chicks' backs. From being very tiny, you can start to see the chicks more easily. We spotted Two infertile eggs two infertile eggs, so the best we hoped for was 9 chicks from the clutch of 11.

17 May: (Day 78) Holly caused some concern when she went roosted at the edge of the nest cup and breathed very shallowly. So the chicks slept without cover! Later in the night Holly returned to churn the chicks about and the next morning the chicks looked fine.

19 May: (Day 80) Late storms battered the box. The chicks a growing very quickly, feather tufts appear over the eyes, and Holly engages in a lot of churning of the chicks. All quite comical. We think there may now only be six chicks. You can begin to see distinct markings on winglets too as they scratch and flap.

3 May: (Day 76) Our best view of the remaining 7 Blue Tit chicks. Any dead chicks are likely to be removed by parents. You can begin to see "tufts" on the chicks' heads and a darkening of the skin as feathers begin to emerge. Still sightless which makes feeding time a hit and miss affair and they don't react until the parent "cheeps"!

Sometimes food is dropped but soon recovered and delivered again. Once we saw two chicks feeding off different ends of the same grub - quite comic really.

4 May: (Day 77): Four minutes of frantic feeding on video.

5-8 May: (Days 78-81): Housekeeping and hygiene are a priority. Nearly every time a parent arrives with food, they leave with the faecal sac in their beak, presented to it by the chick turning upside down in the nest. The chicks get churned about too as the parents dive under the chicks to maintain the cup. The markings become clearer (Day 81) and some chicks start to preen themselves, but fall over asleep at the same time!

9-12 May: (Days 82-85) The eyes open , and very quickly you see some chicks becoming more successful than others in getting food from their parents, the bigger one pushes the others out of the way. By Day 84 we see that only five of the seven hatched chicks appear to be alive now and Blodwyn moved one dead chick Dead chick cleared away to the wall of the box. We did wonder if this was because Blodwyn was a first-time mum but it could be that food is scarce too? The markings are becoming even clearer.

23rd/24th/25th May: 09.30 am: The chicks have been frantically feeding and today they have been exercising their wings a great deal and occasionally peering out of the hole. We got up early, fully expecting to see them leave this morning but it may be that three of them are still a bit small. But, if not today, then tomorrow is almost guaranteed on our experience of previous years. Today, both adults are feeding; when they want the chicks to leave, they will stop feeding the chicks and sit outside calling.

Sadly, on 24th May we spotted that one of the chicks died overnight - 7 left, which isn't bad. The competition in that box is very strong, so the "runts" are not likely to survive - especially as they have been without their parents sharing their roost - simply no space available!

The birdbox was not monitored for several days.

27 May: (Day 88) For a week we have been watching massive changes in the chicks; although a couple did worry us because they are so much smaller than the others. One thing we got wrong - there are seven chicks in view  and a very short clip of the beaks responding to Holly . Holly and Buddy have had to work so very hard to keep the food going through wind and rain. This was the last night during which Holly stayed with the chicks - we don't blame her given how little room she was given!

28 May: (Day 89) Getting much more active, with three chicks much larger than the others, exercise their wings, standing on the smaller chicks and scratch for fleasBroadband Three Strongest Chicks Dial Up Three Strongest Chicks. So we wonder, do some stay behind and get looked after or abandoned? By the evening they were worn out and were left to sleep alone - a short clip because they don't move!

13 May: (Day 86) This is the first sight of a chick flapping its wings and standing at the rim of the nest cup - prime position for feeding too .

14 May: (Day 87) At any one time you can find three chicks standing at the rim of the cup, often craning their necks to see outside the hole and frequently exercising their wings (and pecking each other if one stands on the other!).

15 May: (Day 88) Two stand-alone photographs: see how much wood Blodwyn removed when "preparing" the box for occupation. The next one shows Blodwyn (Brian?) with a caterpillar ready to feed the chicks.

16 May: (Day 89) What a day! Several chicks have had us on tenterhooks as they jumped up to the birdbox hole. However, they were just as often knocked down again by the adult returning to feed them. Blodwyn also chose today to clear out two dead chicks as, we guess, space is at a premium and the presence of a blow fly makes it an important piece of hygiene. The bird call is much more distinct and a lot of time is spent on the rim of the nest and flapping, scratching and preening

26 May: Likely departure day. In spite of the chicks having a keen interest in the birdbox hole and peering out, Dave and Dottie kept feeding them, so they stayed.

As we hinted earlier, we thought that only one parent was now alive and interested in the fate of the fledglings. From this broadband footage (18 May), it is clear only three chicks are active and it does look as if the others may not have made it. The three remaining were caught (19 May) looking as if they were ready to leave the box  (and the flies that were now beginning to arrive). Once the chicks had left, it was clear that only one parent cannot support six fledglings - you can see the remains of the other chicks and a fly left (21 May).

29th May (Day 90): So close to being ready to leave as one chick flies to the hole and looks out before falling back! Feeding is so frantic, you often see both adults in the box together. The pressure to get fed leads to some comic clips - this short one shows the mother cornered! (Thunder in the background).

17th May: The chicks behaved oddly today. They were almost docile as if resting and conserving their energies? No frantic feeding and calling. We think that Blodwyn returned to the box last night because she was soaked through. This evening she was noticeable by her absence.

By the time we got up at 6.30am, all the chicks had flown and could be seen in the undergrowth.

Yesterday, we were convinced they were ready to go, the speed at which they left today reflects how strong the remaining seven in the brood were. This video pulls together some images from the past two days, including the birds peering out and standing outside the box, but none of them leaving. Here we caught site of one care-free chick by some fruit canes - if you check the leaf-size, you get an idea of just how vulnerable they are for the next couple of weeks. We have regular visits by Jackdaws, Crows and Magpies, not to mention Kestrels and Sparrowhawks. Nothing more to be done by us though except to keep food ready available for all the birds who have fledglings of which there are a very large number this year.

2008 - Hiding in a hebe - the last one to leave. The mother was nearby.

2007 - 19th May (Day 92): Oh dear! We were away for a few days and came home to find chicks under the birdbox, looking very beautiful and being fussed over by their parents. So we missed filming the departure by only a few minutes. This short clip gives a view of one chick that did not make it (we suspected one was lost). On broadband you may hear the call of the parents as they tend to their newly flown great tit chicks. Five out of six is not so bad a success rate.

2006 - 30 May: This year took 3 hours to empty the box!

(1) 0700: Surprise! Three gone and we worry the smaller ones might be abandoned - one is much smaller that the others .

(2) 0755: All is well until something caused four hungry chicks to go very still and silent .... the reason was a good one. A magpie had landed below the nestbox and several birds made alarm calls.

(3) No more feeding but a number of short visits and a lot of calling from outside to entice the chicks to leave the nest. This long clip (6.5 mins) follows their fate - leaving the runt of the brood with its mother.

(4) The final chick was abandoned for 40 minutes without food until finally it was forced to respond to its parent's calls - although it was a real struggle for this chick to get airborne - we are not confident that this one will survive the night.

2005 - 18 May: 0630 chicks are frantic. Several try to perch at the birdbox hole - we see two trying at the same time. All chicks are exercising their wings and rattling their tail feathers. It cannot be long before they go - Blodwyn is still regularly feeding and cleaning the chicks. 0720 and all five chicks have left. Be warned, these are large files - make a cup of coffee first and unpack the hanky. Over in 12 minutes!

In mid June 2005 we saw a solitary bee take residence in the nesting material for a while.

Also in May 2005 we heard a sad tale of another bird-box from a visitor to our website that lost all its chicks. Read that sad tale below.