Situated
in a suburban back
garden in West Derby Liverpool , 2 Schwegler Woodcrete
nestboxes,
a Sparrow Terrace and a Starling Box have been
placed facing North/North-East.
This
website follows the progress of our nesters as
they build their nest, lay eggs and rear their young.
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Warning: Egg collecting is destructive, selfish
and immoral.
In
Britain, egg collecting is against the Law.
It has been illegal to take birds' eggs from the
wild since 1954 and
can result in fines and imprisonment.
The potential maximum fine for each wild bird's
egg is £5,000 and/or six month's imprisonment.
Report
a wildlife crime
http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/policy/wildbirdslaw/report.asp
If you would prefer to speak to somebody please
call the RSPB on 01767 680 551 (England and
Wales)
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A series of
pictures taken from inside
the nestboxes.
Meet
Ettie
Ettie
has been roosting in Schwegler box 2 since late
January, unlike last years bird Sisi we haven't seen
much of a prospective mate for little Ettie, nor did
we see much preliminary nesting behaviour such as wing
fanning and wall pecking; So we were surprised when
she started nest building on 30th March - one day
earlier than Sisi last year.
Sunday
30
March.
Alfie
Once
again this years male bird Alfie has dark face
markings & irregular headcap which leads us to
believe he may one of Orlando's brood from last year,
Who in turn showed a remarkable resemblance to
Titch our Blue tit mother of 2006?
Alfie
Orlando
Titch
Again
this year nobody or
should I say no bird has shown an active interest in
the Sparrow Terraces yet; the Sparrow population
seem content with
their traditional nesting places in the area that
remain, namely Privet, Ivy enveloped Conifer and the
eaves of certain 'old build' neighbouring
houses.....Such is life or should I say nature..
This is the thing with nest boxes you put up what you
view as a ' Des Res' in a prime spot and for
some reason - they don't get past the viewing stage,
left on the market....
4th
-11th April 2008
Definite
spurt in nesting activity now, weather still
good. Lots of moss being brought in, structure of nest
forming. April, now bringing in softer
stuff, fluff and feathers! Nesting cup in production.
Wednesday
12th April
I
would say the nest is now complete. Ettie spending a lot
of time in the evening adjusting the nesting cup area
, with plenty of nest wiggles. Once again old pillow
feathers have proved popular for lining the nesting
cup. Last year's mother Sisi laid her first egg 20
days after starting her nest that means the 17th April
for Ettie, but I'll be watching closely as I think she
may well surprise us
Wednesday
16th April
My
suspicion were well founded, look closely and you will see
Ettie has indeed started the family, 3 eggs at least. Must have started laying
on Monday 14th, as mother's before her Ettie has
concealed her eggs well when she ventured out!! (1st
egg laid 4 days earlier than Sisi in 2007 and 15
days earlier than Titch in 2006!)
Monday
21st April
Egg laying has continued at the rate
of one a day, so today there were eight eggs. Ettie
has spent most of the day in the box adjusting
the nesting material and egg rolling. I
believe she has started incubating! Pleased
to say Alfie has been paying Ettie a bit more
attention, caught him feeding her a mealworm yesterday
- little courtship gift.
Time
to hatching? Incubation time based on previous years
12 -14 days, so were looking at 2nd May onwards.
Thursday
24th April... A
Disaster ensues...
Heartbreaking
news to report, Ettie abandons nest after Queen Bee
interloper persists - taking Ettie's nest as her own.
We had
observed Ettie on the nestcam chase off a Queen Bee
twice since the 20th, so when Ettie was missing from
the nest all day Thursday we feared she's fallen foul
of Sparrowhawk or cat. Early Friday
morning revealed the real reason, the Queen Bee
was back, observed crawling all through the nest and
all over poor Ettie's Eggs. We chose to
evict the Queen Bee from the nest in the hope Ettie
would return, but to non avail although Ettie looked
in the nestbox a couple of times she didn't dare
enter, I can only assume she had been frightened by
the persistence of this interloper and given up the
fight. We are gutted, so looking forward to seeing
Ettie and Alfie raise their brood.
Reflection:
Decided despite the terrible
disappointment of losing Ettie Blue tit's nest, a bit of
bumble bee conservation was required. A pad of her own for
Queenie.. then maybe we won't have another nestbox
disaster and I can help stop the decline in
our Bee populations. Box ordered from Bumblebee conservation,
will let you know if a tenant moves in.
Make space for wildlife, a lesson learnt.
The
Bumblebee Conservation Trust
Bumble
bees in crisis : Britain
& Ireland have 25 native species of bumblebee,
3 species are
nationally extinct and 9 more are threatened - they
need our help..
Beewatch 2008
We urgently need your help to map the distributions of our
bumblebees (even the common species). Please record what
species you see in your garden, or when out for a walk. Try to
identify them yourself, but if you're uncertain then take a
digital photograph and email it to us - we will identify it
and let you know what species you have. Please include a
post-code and date in your email...! beewatch@bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk
More
local nesters
WATCH
The
video clips from Nestcam 07 - from nesting to
fledgling 18 in total at MySpace site Laura &
Liverpool RSPB.
Sound
& vision, hear their voices and those little wings
beating - not so quiet!.
(Click
on view my video's from main page)
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=202746901
Here's
some Fab links to other Nestbox watchers!
A
Camera suitable for use in a nest box?
The camera boards used in this
years project are
model, 117CTA/1 Colour Camera,
from Henry's
CCTV centre, London. The
Sony EXVIEW HI RES 520TVL & Sony HQX CCD 550TVL from
RF Concepts,
and a simple wireless camera bought from a local
market.
These board
cameras are relatively small and are easily
concealed in the roof spaces of a bird boxes.
Don't forget it is common sense to
test the camera first before installing the circuit board in
your nest box!!. Unfortunately our camera 3232CP developed a
problem in 2006 and ceased to function just as our
brood fledged, yes a disaster. We removed the camera
after the fledglings had left, no obvious sign of
damage and we assume a chip ? may have blown. Good
enough Henry's replaced the camera as we had only
had it 2 mths and new model 117CTA/1
Colour Camera has been installed in the new starling
box we will check it intermittently over the coming months.
The supplied SCART adaptor connects to a
domestic television, video recorder or DVD recorder. Or
..... you can connect directly (yellow phono connector)
to the 'Video In' on your computer's capture card / TV
card, you will also need a separate white audio
connector for sound .
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TV
System
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PAL
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PAL
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PAL
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PAL
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Resolution
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380 TV
Lines
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550
TV Lines
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380 TV
Lines
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550 TV
Lines
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Min.
Illumination
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0.1
Lux (F1.2)
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0.1
Lux (F2)
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?
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0.1
Lux (F2)
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Power
Supply
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12V
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12V
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12V
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DC
12V
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Dimensions
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60(W)
x 50(H) x 35(D)mm
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38m
(H) x 38mm (W)
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38mm(W)
x 38mm(H)
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117CTA/1 Colour Camera
Starling box
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Sony EXVIEW HI RES 520TVL
Schweg Box 2
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Mini wireless camera
Sparrow Terrace |
Sony CCD pinhole HQX CCD 550TVL
Schweg Box1
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