DavidJJones
Garden Bird & Bug Watcher
If you haven't even started to think about next Spring, this cold weather may be a good time to get on with any nestbox preparations you might need to make, especially if you are going to install nestbox cameras.
Just before Christmas I noticed a male Great Tit being territorial in my garden and decided to clear away the spider webs from my camera box and prepare the place for photography in the Spring. The cctv cameras were switched on on Boxing Day. This morning, with it still 0C outside the cameras recorded a pair of Great Tits making a typical inspection visit, with the male entering first, looking around briefly before being joined by his partner. He remained crouched in a corner with beak open much of the time as she ignored him before he left after about half a minute and she continued to make her own inspection.
Next to be tackled are my Starling boxes where there is at least one bird roosting. I need to check the cameras for any infestations by mites (they like the heat of the electronics and seem able to get past my efforts to seal the cameras!) before the nesting season starts.
My diary entry for today includes a sequence of images from that visit. With the optimism that visits brings I will be starting up my nestbox diaries as the new year begins, although I will not be starting any webcams until later.
Just before Christmas I noticed a male Great Tit being territorial in my garden and decided to clear away the spider webs from my camera box and prepare the place for photography in the Spring. The cctv cameras were switched on on Boxing Day. This morning, with it still 0C outside the cameras recorded a pair of Great Tits making a typical inspection visit, with the male entering first, looking around briefly before being joined by his partner. He remained crouched in a corner with beak open much of the time as she ignored him before he left after about half a minute and she continued to make her own inspection.
Next to be tackled are my Starling boxes where there is at least one bird roosting. I need to check the cameras for any infestations by mites (they like the heat of the electronics and seem able to get past my efforts to seal the cameras!) before the nesting season starts.
My diary entry for today includes a sequence of images from that visit. With the optimism that visits brings I will be starting up my nestbox diaries as the new year begins, although I will not be starting any webcams until later.