Fight ! Fight ! Fight !

Well.........I have had Great tits nesting in a very old nesting box on my fence. Last week the cheepings from inside led me to believe the babies were now quite big. But yesterday I saw Blue tits peering in the hole. Then all of a sudden all hell broke loose. The male great tit and male Blue tit began a terrible fight. I mean really going at each other repeatedly. At one point they were on the ground wrestling each other and the noise was quite alarming. Then..... the larger bird retreated, and the pair of Bluetits began taking beak full after beak full of new nesting material in. The pace was frantic, and carried on for ages. At one point the female could hardly fly because she was carrying so much and it wouldnt fit in the hole so she rammed it in then went in and pulled it in from the inside. All I can think is that the Great tit babies had just fledged, and the Bluetits came by and decided to nest in the now vacant box.... BUT..... the Great tits returned perhaps intending to have their second clutch in there and thus the big fuss. Must be a pretty big nest in there now ! Fascinating watching.......

Mr. Bluetit


'Are you in there Dear? '


In out .....in out


Look carefully for Mrs. Bluetit with a beak full of moss


and again....


and while all this was going on a Goldfinch was feeding nearby quite unconcerned by me or the Bluetits

 

Fantastic pics.

Brilliant.

 

Thank you for sharing the pics and the story Blueroses.
Quite fascinating.

 

What a great story Blueroses, although not for the Great Tits I suppose. How lovely to have all those different types in your garden, watching them is a great way of 'wasting' time I think!

cheers

 

what lovely photos.
I think the Great Tits deserve a brand new 3 storey townhouse. :thumb:

 

Thank you all for your nice comments. I adore watching wildlife and these antics have made me appreciate nature even more

 

Great shots Blueroses. Do the Tits ever try to drive you out of the garden with angry chirrupping like my little tykes do?:D

 

Really great pictures!!

 

Yes Paladin, I know exactly what you mean. If I go in the garden they sit in various nearby locations waiting for me to go, and if I dont, they try and hurry me up with anxious/annoyed chirruping. If I go in the greenhouse and close the door behind me they carry on as normal, and this morning as I pegged out washing they carried on going in and out of the nestbox regardless. Bless 'em :thumb:

 

Lovely pics, Blueroses. At the moment a pair of mistle thrushes seems to have taken over my garden. They make a really scary racket - my cat is terrified of them.

 

did you know that farmers call lapwings black gold, they get paid to leave fields aloan if there nesting

 

Why is that?

 

because they nest on the ground and there protected by law, they allso get paid to protect a plant called cowslip