May 17
It would appear our Nuthatch is a bit confused! She actually roosted in the box again on Tuesday night but then didn’t stay last night. Nesting wriggles are still being performed and she has even been seen bringing more nesting material into the box. With the old eggs still in the box I’d be a bit concerned if she laid new ones on top. How would she incubate just the new ones? Interesting times in our box!
May 13
I’m at a bit of a loss to explain what’s going on in our birdbox at the moment. Our female Nuthatch abandoned her eggs a while ago and then didn’t visit the box at all for a couple of days. The last few days she has been regular trips back into the box! These have included some nesting wriggles and a little bit of woodwork on the box. Surely she won’t lay more eggs on top of the old ones?! I also don’t see how she could eject the old ones from the box. What is she doing?!
May 5
I’m afraid it looks like the inevitable has happened. The eggs were a good few days overdue and our female Nuthatch has abandoned the nest this morning. She left at 7:50AM and has not returned again. We’ve seen both Nuthatches in the garden since then so she is fit and well but obviously she knew her eggs were not going to hatch. I’m guessing the weather is probably the main reason for these eggs not hatching. We’ve had temperatures verging on freezing during the night a few times since she laid the eggs and there is only so much heat 1 little Nuthatch can generate for incubation.
We had such a successful nest last year with at least 8 Nuthatches leaving the nest but we’ve seen the other side of nature this time round. We’ll keep an eye out to see what our Nuthatch pair do in the garden and hopefully they might have time for a 2nd nest elsewhere.
May 4
Today is roughly the 21st day of incubation and the eggs still show no signs of cracking. This means the eggs are about 4 – 5 days “overdue”. During last years nest the eggs hatched on exactly the right day which makes it all the more concerning that they haven’t hatched this time. It’s entirely possible and probably quite likely now that these eggs are not going to hatch. The female Nuthatch is still incubating them but I imagine there are many reasons why they won’t hatch. The cold, wet and windy weather we are having might not have helped and, for all we know, the eggs could be infertile. Fingers crossed they do hatch but I’m afraid I’m not holding out much hope.
Apr 29
Not much to report today as the eggs are showing no signs of hatching! By my calculations today was the day that they were “due” to hatch. That’s going on what happened in our nest last year and from what the BTO suggest. I guess it’s quite possible that the colder weather will have delayed things a bit. Hopefully the rain isn’t an issue when it comes to finding food for the chicks.
