March 12th, 2024 (Outside temperature 19°C, rainy)
Once again this year we have a surplus of great tits willing to breed and unfortunately the blue tits have
already started to transport nesting material into the small cavity under the roof.
But the great tits have also been busy, the box by the pond and the balcony box have been filled with dried grass since today,
we don't have any overnight guests at the moment.
We have only seen two or three starlings sporadically so far, and we have put up a new half-hollow on the other side of the
house to the north-east, as the black redstart and great tit always had minor differences during the breeding season.
March 27th, 2024 (Outside temperature 8°C, overcast)
Some nests have already been completed, other boxes are still being ignored. The starlings seem to be
nesting elsewhere this year, although they occasionally make checks after they have already emptied the box. In the meantime,
a great tit has moved in and has apparently already completed the nest. We'll see who ends up nesting there.
The black redstarts have only been seen briefly so far and we are curious to see whether they will be interested in the new half-cave.
March 30th, 2024 (Outside temperature 11°C, overcast)
It is Easter and in the nesting-box at the pond there are 8 eggs. We already had seen the Great-tit being at the
box quite often the last three days. Yesterday we now have been able to count the eggs, since they were not covered anymore.
Bernhard from Forchtenberg had seen them also.... Breeding seems to happen this year about one week earlier, unfortunately the
Tit of our balcony did move into the nestingbox of the starlings where we have no camera. The Blue-tits are not yet detected, but they
are busy somewhere in our garden.
April 10th, 2024 (Outside temperature 11°C, sunny)
The first three great tit chicks have arrived, earlier than ever. The first chick lay in the nest in the afternoon.
The other great tits had moved into the starling box, so we can only observe one brood on the camera. The box in the front
garden also remains empty this year, but for the first time magpies are breeding within sight in a hastily built nest in the
dry larch tree. However, the nest has already been attacked several times by crows and buzzards, and the kestrels have also been there.
April 14th, 2024 (Outside temperature 22°C, sunny)
Yesterday we counted 8 little great tits in the nest, they all seem to be doing well, daddy great tit is
allowed in the box, but gives the food to mummy. It is supposed to get cooler again in the next few days, so we hope that the
little ones will be sufficiently warmed. Last year, unfortunately, we had an unusually high number of deaths after a few days,
so we are keeping our fingers crossed that things will go better this year.
April 18th, 2024 (Outside temperature 8°C, a bit sun)
Especially at night and in the early morning, the temperatures are only in the single digits and it has been
raining for days. Fortunately, the plumage is growing slowly on the little ones, who are now a good week old. Both parents are
feeding more and more frequently, and dad is now also allowed to feed the little ones directly more often. Everything looks
normal, yesterday the 8 were well, but there is another straggler. We hope that the constant rain will have a positive effect
on the amount of live food, we are currently observing the stork nest on the church roof with the spotting scope, there should
be enough earthworms.
April 26th, 2024 (Outside temperature 14°C, cloudy) day 16
Our 8 young tits have survived the cold nights surprisingly well. Probably also because of all the rainfall
in the last few days, there is probably enough food, mainly green caterpillars. The birds look surprisingly fit so far,
including the junior. The hollow is now partly abandoned, they are already sitting on top of each other and their hair is
growing every day. Both parents are feeding tirelessly and it should finally get warmer tomorrow. Incidentally, the black
redstarts seem to have taken a keen interest in the neighboring box (half hollow).
April 30th, 2024 (Outside temperature 20°C, sunny) day 20
Two youngsters had already ventured out yesterday evening, the remaining six were very shocked for quite
a while, but after about 30 minutes the parents were on hand with food until peace returned late in the evening. This morning
the excursion continued rather unspectacularly, at 8.00 a.m. four, an hour later the last two were gone, the parents had lured
loudly. The noise was accompanied (almost traditionally) by the loud singing of the warblers, the black redstart grumbled,
the blackbirds were also quite noisy and finally the great spotted woodpecker came and added his contribution. A difficult
task for the tit parents to locate the young in the garden and somehow bring them together. Fortunately, the 2nd great tit
brood in the hedge is not yet ready, otherwise the chaos would have been perfect.
