Offers & Competitions1 min ago
Spring Is Coming.
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Noticed over the last week Blue Tits checking out my nest boxes. Spring in the air?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.They don't seem to the most predictable of birds:
"Most blue tits begin building their nest in late March. This allows them to synchronise breeding so that the hatching of their chicks coincides with peak food availability - the tiny caterpillars that have also hatched to feast on fresh tree leaves.
Records show however that some get a much earlier start, building as early as January, and that some late-comers don't get going until the end of May. It could be that in years when the emergence of tree-munching caterpillars is delayed or unseasonably early, it's an advantage to nest out of sync with the rest of the crowd"
https:/ /www.wo odlandt rust.or g.uk/bl og/2019 /02/whe n-do-bl ue-tits -nest/
"Most blue tits begin building their nest in late March. This allows them to synchronise breeding so that the hatching of their chicks coincides with peak food availability - the tiny caterpillars that have also hatched to feast on fresh tree leaves.
Records show however that some get a much earlier start, building as early as January, and that some late-comers don't get going until the end of May. It could be that in years when the emergence of tree-munching caterpillars is delayed or unseasonably early, it's an advantage to nest out of sync with the rest of the crowd"
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Travelling to and from London last week, lambs in the fields, and a few calves, noticed loads of spring flowers out in the city, daffs were ahead of the Midlands by at least a couple of weeks, and something I don't see at all up here, mimosa trees in full bloom in a few sheltered spots. We have crocuses and the last of the snowdrops. The wheel of the year turns.