Great Tits

Yes, its true we have a family of Great Tits nesting in our new bird box in one of the apple trees at the end of the garden. There are about 7 birds in the nest and at least one egg to hatch. The parent birds fly back and forth throughout the day to feed the brood. About an hour before dark all the activity stops and the chicks go to sleep. We are able to look inside the box with the aid of a cleverly constructed flap.

There is 5 days difference between the pictures, it looks like some chicks have already flown the nest.

The children's grandpa had made the bird box and had written on the outside "Blue Tits only, Sparrows keep out" So my daughter said the birds can read and my son could not quite work out why when the bird went in the box how did it get so small inside. This is the picture from when we first noticed that the parent birds were going into the box. The chicks in the nest are so small but toward the front of the picture on the rim of the nest are the larger chicks and they have been stretching their necks to reach the hole.