Remember the last series of videos about the Great Tit brood?
2026 Nesting - Game Over : r/GreatTits
Well, it looks like we're going to have a second brood this year. That's a first for me.
I got a motion alert from the camera in the box, and she's been in there rummaging all morning and bringing in more material.
This video shows the last three chicks leaving this morning.
This year was quite protracted. Six of them left on 13 May (and even that was spaced out over the whole day - we had sporadic rain showers). The remaining three remained all day yesterday, and finally left early this morning. There was a lot of enticement by the parents.
If you watch the first part closely, the parent is putting food in their mouths, but then taking it out and flying out of the box with it. It's like using a carrot to lead a donkey - she is trying to lure them out.
Nine fledged out of the original ten eggs, and all of them looked healthy and well-fed (we had a runt last year, which couldn't fly when it left).
As usual, they pooped everywhere and I will have to clean the box in the autumn.
When I get time, I will do a time-lapse of the last three days.
They should leave over the next couple of days. They are climbing up to the hole and are restless. Poop splatters are also appearing on the walls - the parents are still removing it, but with the chicks moving around, it gets messy near the end.
Based on previous years, they will leave early in the morning on the day.
There's still 9 of them in there, and the place goes crazy when the parents enter.
The change is dramatic, even just two days after the previous update.
They're getting close to fledging now, perhaps about a week away.
There are definitely 8 chicks, but earlier today I thought could count maybe 9 or even 10 - but they won't sit still, so perhaps not.
I mentioned last week that I had received an unsolicited email from someone who has an 'ADI Portal' where instructors can swap tests:
It Didn't Take Long : r/LearnerDriverUK
But DVSA put out an email today linking to the official situation. This is the main information:
Swapping your driving test with another learner driver - GOV.UK
That portal has certainly got it's work cut out to get round this part:
>It’s against the law for other people (including driving instructors) or websites to swap a driving test for someone else.
Here's a bit of a British Success.
Two weeks ago I bought some cut Basil on my Ocado shop, and thought 'you've grown this before, so why not do it again?'
So I ignored the reviews ('I bought it and it died', or 'it was very small, so I threw it away') and bought one of those 'growing' pots supermarkets often do.
It was only about 4-5 inches/12cm high, but I put it in a saucer and began watering it. Two weeks later, it's a Triffid. At about 20 inches/0.5m.
Mind you, it's a very sensitive Triffid. If you don't water it one day it starts sulking.
I'm going to start using it now before it attacks me, though.
I just got this unsolicited text message.
People are already preparing to abuse the changes to the system, which are intended to prevent hoarding tests.
Previous posts:
This is how they keep the nest clean.
When a chick wants to defaecate, it sticks it's rump in the air and ejects a capsule of poop.
In previous years, the parents took it outside and I always assumed they dumped it somewhere. But as this video shows, they probably weren't actually dumping it.
Previous posts:
Sorry for two posts in quick succession. I'm just trying to summarise the whole hatching process.
The female seemed to be having trouble feeding at the start. She simply couldn't get the food into the first chick's throat. But by the time two more had hatched, she was getting the hang of it.
I was surprised to see the male actually feeding the chicks. In previous seasons I had not witnessed it.
By the end of the first day, there are 8 chicks (perhaps 9). Bearing in mind that the female laid eggs over 10 days, it's not unusual for them to hatch over two days. However, the chicks which hatch later tend to be at greater risk, since they will be smaller.
As a side note, even after under a day, the chicks are already larger - compare the size of their mouths when they gape for food. They grow very quickly.