MONO MONDAY - WELCOME TO OAK HOUSE

"Hello Blippers, Mr. and Mrs. Great Tit here:

Just wanted to tell you about our new home - well it’s not that new, as we have been here for a couple of weeks now - but this is not just any old bird box - this is made of oak and was created by Robin, no not the bird, but the name of a friend of Mr. and Mrs. HCB several years ago.  

We like to call it ‘Oak House’ which I know may sound a little pretentious but hey, it’s a lot better than some of the nesting boxes we have seen around!

When we were looking around for somewhere to nest and lay eggs, we saw this, but it looked too new, so we left it a couple of years, and came back this year.  We are really glad we did, because Mr. and Mrs. HCB are very kind to us - they put sunflower hearts into their squirrel-proof bird feeders, which saves us cracking open the cases to get to the seed.  They also leave out clean, fresh water for us and best of all, Mr. HCB grows lots of vegetables so there are always lots of aphids on them, so we don’t have to look too far for food.  There are also lots of spiders and flies in the garden, and just behind Oak House there is a pile of logs, so there is always something appetising for us to eat.  

They also have roses in their garden - and we were pleased to see that the one behind the bird box is now flowering - it is a beautiful deep red colour so brightens up our day when we are flying in and out of Oak House, especially at the moment, because our eggs have now hatched and we have many hungry mouths to feed so we are feeding from dawn till dusk.  By the time one of us has gone out to find some food and come back the other is waiting to leave, so it is pretty full on now that the babies are growing.  They push and shove each other and of course, it is a bit cramped for space, although it is much larger than our house last year.  

We both do the general cleaning at Oak House - because of course, there are always lots of poo sacs to get rid of, but we don’t mind - it has to be done, especially when there isn’t much room inside and as it is such a high-class home, we need to keep it clean and tidy!

Just behind Oak House is a large Compassion rose bush and because Mr. HCB isn’t keen on spraying his roses, there are always juicy green flies for us to collect - what great landlords they are!

When our chicks first hatched, they were blind and had no feathers, but now they have been having good food for a few days, they can see when we are coming and their feathers are growing well.  Hopefully the chicks will fledge soon, but that won’t be the end of us feeding them.  Although we won’t be coming back to Oak House, we need to find a safe home for us and our chicks, because they will still need feeding for a while longer.

We are so grateful to people like Mr. and Mrs. HCB who not only feed us but also enjoy watching us feeding our little family and then encouraging our chicks to fledge.  

Of course, as this is Mono Monday, Mrs. HCB has taken this shot in mono, but if you look in her extras, you will see it in ‘glorious technicolor’.

Can’t stop to tell you more because we can hear the chicks calling -  think they need feeding again - parents' work is never done!"

“Feeding birds means feeding yourself! 
Birds are part of nature 
     and feeding nature 
          is nothing but feeding yourself!” 
Mehmet Murat ildan