Spring 2012.
16th May
How many babies have you seen. As they are so tiny it is hard to tell. We have seen 5 beaks at the same time - but is that all there are?
If you see more than 5 chicks at the same time please let us know.

15th May
We have babies - the chicks are hatching out at the moment. Not sure how many we have as they are under the mother bird for most of the time.

10th May
Mother bird has been sat on the eggs for 8 days now. Incubation period is around 10 days, so we are hopeful of seeing our first chicks hatching in the next day or two.

2nd May
Due to the angle of our camera we cannot see into the nest to check for eggs. But with the mother bird sat on the nest constantly, we are sure that they are there. Just how many there are is something we dont know - so we will have to wait to count beaks when they hatch out in a week or so.

30th April
Mother bird has been very particular about sorting the nest out today. She has now been sat in the nest for a couple of hours doing a lot of tail waggling. Could this be her egg laying?
We hope so!



25th April
Loads of nest material in the box and the birds are using it to sleep at night. But there is very little sign of the parent birds around the box during the day. Our best guess is that they are off feeding themselves up for the chick rearing ordeal to come. Either that or they are somewhere keeping out of the persistant torrential rain which has been falling on the south coast for the last week.

23rd April
Because we now have an infra-red camera in the box we are able to see what goes on in there at night for the first time. Over the weekend one of the birds slept in the nest on each nigh. The question that we would like to know the answer to is, where does the other bird sleep? And, is it the male or the female bird that gets to sleep in the comfy nest?

19th April

Nestbuilding has started in earnest today. Both birds in and out all day with moss and grass. The nest is really taking shape. Next stop - EGGS!

If you don't see a live picture here, please view the 'Live Webcams' page to see a list of schools currently broadcasting. Our camera may be disconnected at the moment.

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ARCHIVE : 2011 Season

FLEDGED
Our two House Sparrow chicks have flown the nest. On Wednesday morning both young birds flew from the nest. The parent birds have been returning frequently - which gives us hope that thye will soon lay new eggs and we will see more sparrow chicks being raised in our nest

SPOT THE BIRDIE
We have 3 house sparrow chicks being raised in the nest. We can hear them, but only rarely can we see them. We catch the occasional glimpse as they look out from under the 'roof' that the parent birds have built over the nest.

HOUSE SPARROWS

The residents of our nest are house sparrows. Unfortunately their nest construction means that neither of our cameras can see the mother bird on her eggs. We are told that house sparrows are becoming very rare. So although we can hardly see them, we are very lucky to have a pair nesting in our box.


Movement

There has been some movement in the nesting material - which means that we can see what appears to be 3 eggs in the nest.

A Strange Nest

Our new residents - which may or may not be Tree Sparrows (we are still not sure). Seem to have built a nest like a dome. Unfortunately this means that it is obscuring the views from both of the cameras that we have in the box.
We have a very clear picture of nest material - and a shadowy hint of a bird doing something beneath. We will continue to broadcast in the hope that the view will improve.

Tree Sparrows

We have a pair of tree sparrows building a nest in our birdbox.
For the past 7 years we have broadcast pictures of blue tits nesting at our school.
So we are quite excited to have a different species nesting. It will be very interesting to see the differences between Blue Tits and Tree Sparrows. Will they have the same size brood? Will they feed the babies the same food? Will it be the same length of time that the mother bird incubates the eggs?
It will be an interesting time watching our birdbox this year.





Archive 2010

Friday 14th May

In a harsh example of the way in which nature can be both cruel and kind, we are now down to nine babies in the nest.

Yesterday we think that the mother bird moved two chicks out of the nest and into the corner of the birdbox. We can only speculate why this was done. Possibly the chicks were unwell or weak, but the mother obviously decided to concentrate her efforts on the healthy chicks.

Tuesday 11th May

BABIES!!

Monday 10th May

We were expecting to find chicks in our nest when we came in to school this morning. But they are still just eggs. We are eagerly anticipating the first chicks hatching, which must be going to happen very soon. How exciting!

Friday 30th April

Our best guess from yesterday wasn't too good. Today we have counted 11 eggs in the nest, with some of our children convinced that there is yet one more slightly hidden. Oh Well - we will know for sure soon, when we can count beaks.

Thursday 29th April 2010

Mum blue tit is sitting on the eggs for 90% of the time now, so she has obviously decided that it is now incubation time. Our best guess is that there are 9 eggs in the nest, so we look forward to seeing 9 little chicks in about a weeks time.

Wednesday 28th April 2010

We have a pair of Blue Tits who have laid eggs in our nestbox. The mother bird has yet to start incubating the eggs, we think she is waiting for the trees around the nest to burst into leaf.

Tuesday 27th April 2010

We have eggs in the box.Hard to tell how many at the moment - but we definitely have eggs.

Monday 26th April 2010

We are still seeing occasional visits from the blue tits to the nest. We have not seen any sign of egg laying yet, but hope that this will happen very soon. Last year we spotted our first eggon the 16th April - with the parent bird sat regularly on the eggs by the 20th. We think that the cold winter has meant that spring is a week or two behind last yearand that the blue tits are just waiting for the trees (and therefore the caterpillars) to spring into life.

2009