Fast Forward to 15th May 2020 ...

As I said at the beginning of this blog, I have been having some issues with the nestbox camera, and consequently have missed a chunk of the chicks early development.

You may remember that 10 chicks hatched on the 1st May 2020 .. However, as of today (15th May), only 4 of the 10 remain. 

There is some good news though! ... Both parents are still around, and are being very industrious and attentive. Also, the remaining 4 chicks (as you will see..), look pretty well fed and robust, so fingers crossed that they may make it all the way !!

I can only speculate as to what happened to the other 6 chicks, maybe there isn't the plentiful supply of grubs and caterpillars, as previous years? Maybe the nestbox got too hot with the spring sunshine we have had? Still, it may prove to be a blessing in disguise, as the parents have been able to concentrate on the remaining four. Fledging 4 chicks from the brood is seen as a good return, so let's see if they can make it ... 

Here we can see Mom with her 4 chicks ...

Here we can see the scramble for the last feed of the day !! You can clearly see that a couple of the chicks are more dominant than the other two, however, the less dominant pair do not  appear to be particularly under nourished ..