I posted a few days ago about the great spotted woodpecker's attacks on our blue tit nest box. Well, the box is now deserted, and while the entrance hole doesn't seem any larger, I think it has probably been enlarged enough to allow chicks to be snatched. So I fear the worst. The woodpeckers are frequently around, and very vocal.
I might be mistaken, though, in fearing the worst. I'm sure the chicks were close to fledging, and they might have gone, even though I missed seeing them fly. Today, there were briefly some young blue tits near the feeding station. There's a nest not far away in the wood (the two sets of parents were quite combative towards each other), so they might be from that brood, but equally they could have been "ours". Anyway, my next job is to get the box down and sort out a replacement.
A strange bird has been visiting our feeders over the past few days - brown and black and quite scruffy looking. Its behaviour suggested a coal tit, but the plumage frankly didn't convince at all! But it was: a small throng of young coal tits duly appeared, and the scruffy parent got on with the task of feeding them. It's a reminder if I needed one as to just how hard the parent birds have to work, and at what cost to their appearance if not their health, to raise probably at least two broods of young through the season. I have to say that, though scruffy, the adult bird seemed healthy and active enough.
Coal tits are right at the bottom of the pecking order, just below blue tits which are usually next to bottom. Our resident blue tits this year, however, have not been ready to accept that place, and have seen off great tits and other larger birds, as well as the other nearby blue tit pair. Coal tits, aware of their place, generally make swift raiding visits to grab a seed and then go. Often they plant the seeds they grab, keeping them for later. When sunflowers start growing in unlikely places like hanging baskets, coal tits are usually the reason!
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