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All gone!
August 26, 2022
Both chicks and the adults left box 1 today (at 40 days of age), unusual for all to go on same day in our experience. No adults returned at night. So that's it for this year! 7 chicks successfully fledged, a new colony record!
Box 3 all fledged!
August 17, 2022
The remaining chick in box 3 fledged about 10:30 this morning, in good weather thankfully. Just box 1 left now.
Fledging
August 13, 2022
Chick fledged around 8:30 this morning from box 3, only 1 chick and 1 adult left there now.
More departures
August 2, 2022
The adult pair in box 5 have now also gone.
First adult pair gone
August 1, 2022
After staying overnight for a few nights after chicks fledged the adults in box 2 did not return last night.
First fledgings!
July 24, 2022
The single chick in box 2 and the pair in box 5 have all fledged overnight/early am, just 2 pairs of young left now.
7 chicks! A new colony record
July 17, 2022
At last both eggs in box 1 have hatched after 19 days incubation, see here. Beats last years 6 chicks. Will they all survive the heat wave?
And another
July 9, 2022
2nd egg hatched in box 3 but is much smaller 1 day after 1st hatch.
A new chick!
July 7th, 2022
After 18 days incubation we have a 1st chick in box 3 (4 in total now), now anticipating the 2nd hatching.
Back to 4 pairs!
July 5, 2022
Unfortunately after spending a couple of nights in the box, our new pair seem to have gone. Hopefully they were enthusiastic prospectors who will return next year.
A 5th pair in the colony!
June 29, 2022
First bird arrived yesterday and this morning we have our 5th pair, a new colony record! Also, we now have 2 eggs in the nest cup in box 1, is this a new pair or have they retrieved 2 of the previous clutch or have they laid a 2nd clutch? We don't know.
Egg news
June 18, 2022
First egg in box 3 appeared today, this is pretty late laying. Unfortunately the single surviving egg in box 1 is probably dead, it has been cracked for a few days now.
More chicks!
June 14, 2022
Got 2nd chick in box 5 later yesterday and 1st chick in box 2 today, plus box 1 seems to have retrieved 1 of their 3 eggs so fingers crossed!
A 4th pair!
June 7, 2022
After some prospectors checking out the colony we have our 4th pair in box 3. Strangely they were often antagonistic toward each other but settled down at night.
Much egg movement!
May 30, 2022
We have a 3rd egg in box 1, see here, but still a single ejected egg in box 1 and 2, so max of 6 viable eggs so far.
It's 2 eggs each!
May 26, 2022
Now all 3 pairs have 2 eggs, but box 2 have yet to retrieve their ejected egg, we may try to poke it back into the nest cup..
It's 1 egg each
May 24, 2022
We now have a single egg for each of the 3 pairs.
First egg!
May 23, 2022
We have our first egg of the season, see here. The colony seems to have settled down with a pair in boxes 1,2, & 5. No further prospectors noticed as yet.
New behaviour
May 20, 2022
We have seen behaviour that we have not seen in previous seasons recently. A few incidents of fighting inside the box that then seemed to settle down (see here). Also birds moving between boxes and even a pair overnighting in different boxes but then getting together again the following dawn.
More arrivals
May 16, 2022
We have seen another pair acting strangely, as they seem to go to separate boxes at night then get together around dawn, not yet sure which box they will eventually adopt. We have another pair now in box 1. So we think we now have 3 pairs and 1 single.
First pair of 2022!
May 10, 2022
After some confusing moving around by the new birds we now have our first pair in box 3 plus at least 1 single (we think).
All gone!!
September 5, 2021
Yesterday the last 2 chicks fledged a few hours apart. A lone parent stayed another night but has now gone also. All done till next year.
Another departure
August 16, 2021
The single adult in box 3 has gone, just the family left now.
Mass exodus!
August 13, 2021
Now the single parent chick has fledged. Also one of the adults hanging on in box 3 has gone plus both adults in box. So just the family in box 1 and a single adult in box 3 remaining...
One parent decided to go!
August 12, 2021
One of the adults failed to return last night, today it's just the chick and a single parent. We have never seen an adult leave before the chicks have fledged before. More interesting new behaviour. Maybe because the chick is very close to fledging.
Bon voyage!
August 10, 2021
The pair in box 2 left mid-morning after spending some time gazing out. About 38 days old. 3 left to go!
First fledging!
August 1, 2021
The single chick in box 3 fledged early this morning, aged about 35 days. The parents still roost here for a while.
And another just popped up!
July 26, 2021
Correction - we have 2 chicks in box 1, so 6 in total!
Full house!
July 21, 2021
Finally, we have a chick in box 1, see here. So chick(s) in all boxes, 5 in total!
More babies!
July 4, 2021
In a turn around, box 1 now has eggs IN the nest again while 2 & 4 have a chick!
Babies and eggs galore!
June 21, 2021
All boxes now have eggs but unfortunately boxes 1 & 4 have rejected their eggs. Box 2 is busy incubating (well mostly) while we have first sight of babies this year in box 3, see here.
All boxes full!
June 4, 2021
Last year we had 2 out of 3 boxes occupied. This year we have 4 out of 4 with resident pairs!
Intruder!
June 1, 2021
Had to manually rescue a (presumably) intruder bird from being held by resident bird. Never done that before! See here.