Early rising cuckoo and fledged chicks

I woke at 3.30 this morning to hear a cuckoo singing loudly as part of the dawn chorus.
On checking the nest box this morning I found it empty. All four chicks have fledged.

Four chicks remaining

Four chicks are still being fed. The parents seem to be finding it hard to keep up a supply of insect food and are bringing in addition small fragments of seeds and pieces of peanut. The smallest of the chicks seems less lively than the others. I hope it survives.

Great Tits, Owls and Foxes

We now have only four Great Tit babies in the nest box, but they seem to be flourishing.

At Low Barns today I saw two baby Tawny Owls in the trees and a Vixen with three cubs near the bird feeding station.

Low Bat

I paid a visit to Low Bat Reserve near Frosterley today. I saw Goosander, Sandpiper, Oyster Catcher and Dipper on the river and Forget-me-nots and Primroses in the wood.
The Dipper was building a nest under an overhang on the river bank.

Tawny at Low Barns

Had a wonderful view of a roosting Tawny Owl while walking round Low Barns Nature Reserve at lunchtime today. It was totally unconcerned at our presence.

Bird box and hedgerow birds

The bird box now has 9 chicks hatched and being fed.

Walking along the old railway footpath I saw Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Yellowhammer, Thrush, Green Woodpecker, Swallow, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff and heard a Cuckoo for the second time this year.

Bird box activity

09.00 this morning seven eggs hatched, two to go.



11.00 this morning eight hatched. One to go.

Baby Great Tits

Since the last post another egg was laid making nine in total. Today they have started to hatch. At time of writing we have four chicks hatched and five to go. No activity in the other boxes.