I came home today to find...

... Seven eggs in the blue tit nest in our camera nest box! I left you last Friday with a picture of the finished nest. I then went on holiday to Devon, in the hope that when we got back, our blue tit female would have laid a few eggs. She didn't disappoint :-)

We've been away for a week, so she must've laid an egg a day, so far without skipping a day. Blue tits start to incubate their eggs when the clutch is almost complete apparently. Our female has started incubating her eggs (although not full time), so I'm guessing she has maybe one or two more still to go. I will try to get up early tomorrow morning to see if I can catch her laying her last (or second last) egg. It may be that she skips a day tomorrow morning, as blue tits often do.

The video below shows the seven eggs, and then the female coming in to incubate them. She left the nest every 15-20 minutes, so she isn't always on the eggs just yet. I'm guessing she will incubate them for longer periods tomorrow.

I have seen the male blue tit feed the female outside the nest box several times over the last couple of weeks. Today, as I was in the garden, I saw both the male and the female go in the box, but because I was outside at the time, I was unable to record what was going on inside the box. The video below however shows the female coming into the box, taking a while to settle down on the eggs and then calling for the male, who didn't arrive this time. Turn the volume up to hear the female calling if you can.

I'm so glad now that I decided to put the camera in the box a couple of weeks ago when I noticed the female coming in with nesting material. It really is exciting stuff. I will post about some of the sightings on our Devon holiday soon, maybe not tomorrow though. Anyway, have a great weekend :-)