New life

               The wood seems full of new life with nestlings in bird boxes and young Grass Snakes warming under tin sheets. A quick check of my many nest boxes showed a good number now occupied and adults busy feeding young. We have one box occupied by the Nuthatches, four with Blue Tits and two with Great Tits, and several others which I am unsure about just yet. Then there are a small number of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, early spring migrants, that are showing signs of nesting but are very secretive. In the background there is a very noisy young buzzard calling all day from somewhere in the bigger wood, hoping an adult will come and feed him or her. There is no sign yet of some of rarest summer visitors to the wood. Spotted Flycatchers and Turtle Doves tend to be late migrants. Now pretty rare I still hope to see at least one of each during the summer but sadly it is a few years since hearing a cuckoo calling near Crow Wood.
               A quick peek in the owl box revealed just one chick inside rather than the two first seen inside ten days ago. It could be that the older one has already left the box and gone "branching" - tawny chicks leave the nest well before they can fly by climbing around nearby trees, where the adults continue to feed them. The alternative explanation is that the smaller chick has been eaten by the bigger chick. This sounds pretty dreadful but this fratricide is not uncommon amongst birds of prey young and is a survival strategy that many species may use. It ensures that when food is in short supply at least one youngster will survive to adulthood. Lastly, one cannot exclude the possibility that another bird of prey such as a Goshawk has found the nest and raided it. If this is the case the chances are that it will return for the remaining youngster. I will never know the answer to the puzzle of the missing chick but have to hope that with luck at least one chick will fledge successfully.

Adult Nuthatch bringing food, note how the adults have sealed the gaps and reduced the entrance hole with mud

Busy Blue Tit parents making regular sorties from boxes - these are boxes made of Woodcrete and a very strong so they resist attacks by woodpeckers and squirrels

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The remaining Tawny Owl chick, but whither chick no 2?