Moss already...surely not

Er, yes we do have a small covering of moss at the bottom of our nestbox. The first thing I thought was that it couldn't possibly be moss. We do live in the south but its not even March yet. From the nestbox diaries I have seen, they don't start bringing in nesting material until mid-march to early April. This certainly has worried me, and I am not sure whether the parents will have a chance of bringing up a successful brood. Surely there won't be enough insects to feed the chicks. We'll have to see what happens next.

For some reason, taking still images with the nestbox camera doesn't work particularly well, and the quality of the image below isn't that great. You should still be able to make out the darker plant material on top of the wood shavings. This really surprised me!

Save our bees campaign

Very similar to the worm survey which Jane mentioned on her blog is the "Save the bees campaign". It doesn't involve any mustard or surveys but is helping to save another of our UK species. Apparently, if bee populations carry on declining at the current rate, then it is predicted that they could disappear completely from Britain by 2018. With this fact, you can understand why your help is needed.

I have already registered for the campaign. If you would like to do so, here is the adress for their website. When you register, you will be sent a packet of wildflower seeds, which you will be able to grow in the garden. These will provide the bees with more food, which should in turn, help the UK bee population to start increasing again. The plant seeds will almost certainly go in my wildlife/plant patch. Even if no bees are attracted by it, the plants will look nice anyway!

During "National Science and Engineering Week" (6-15th March) a number of events will be taking place across the UK, and they should bee fantastic! Here they are:

Swarm to Ness at Ness Botanic Gardens, South Wirral
Busy Bees at INTECH Science Centre and Planetarium
Bee My Friend at University of Leicester
Land Managers Event at University of Leicester
Bee Aware Weekend at National Botanic Garden of Wales
Bee Aware - Schools at National Botanic Garden of Wales
Bee Aware at Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

If you are interested in any of the above, it is worth visiting the website for more info on dates, etc. Hopefully, some of you will get involved, or register on the website to help save the bees. Surprisingly I saw some sort of Bumblebee in the garden at the weekend. This mild weather must have encouraged it. Some of the wild flowers (which I haven't planted) in our garden have already come out- I just hope there won't be another cold snap!

Both parents visit the box

First visit from both Blue Tit parents has already taken place. The male visits first, followed by the female. The female performs the nesting shuffle several times, which is a good sign. Hopefully they will use this box in the spring.