Short Film from Peckham Springwatch!

Dear All,

Arthur and Ian bought me a bird web cam for my birthday back in February. Almost immediately, a female Blue Tit moved in and began to tap the bottom of the box with her beak, marking the wood. She carried on doing this regularly for a whole month. It was puzzling but we wondered whether she wanted the spot where she would lay the eggs to be rougher, to avoid the eggs slipping around (?).  Because of this birdy behaviour, Arthur called her Shredder.

She then built a nest, painstakingly gathering moss and feathers in a circle, a bit like a crown – with the middlle/bottom of the nest still empty. The last stage though was when she wove feathers across and round the bottom of this circular nest, making a very soft base for the ten speckled eggs she then laid (over a period of about a week). She didn’t sit on them at first and we learned that only when she sits on them continuously, does the incubation start. Clever really because then the baby birds are all born at the same time.

Then, two weeks ago, nine hatched. They were pink, blind and looked very vulnerable indeed. The male blue tit (Mr Shredder) was very involved from that moment on, helping to feed the chicks caterpillars and grubs.

As you can see from this short film, their feathers are coming through and they are much bigger and stronger. Every time Mr or Mrs Shredder comes back through the hole, all their chicks’ beaks open wide. They will probably fledge and leave the nest in a about ten days. That will be a nerve-wracking time for us because we feel very responsible for them by now ! Ian had to turn the monitor off when one chick looked as though it was choking on a feather ! Luckily it survived.

If any of you want to bring the children to come and see the monitor and the birds with their own eyes, you are very welcome to drop by. (See the address list for our details and please phone first.) It is a very special thing to have seen and we do feel very privileged to have witnessed this part of nature we wouldn’t ordinarily see.

All the best
Fiona (and Ian and Arthur)