Well, today has been a happy day and a sad day too. It has been a happy day because our five remaining chicks fledged this morning (sadly two were not strong enough to make it into the outside world).They had been flexing their muscles and testing their wings for a few days and this morning mum and dad Great-Tit coaxed the youngsters out of the nest box by feeding the chicks through the nest box hole rather than going in to feed. This had the desired effect and all five popped out, albeit some more tentatively than others, within the space of about twenty minutes
One of the young ones got separated from the others and we were a bit concerned that he or she may not have been missed, but thankfully mum and dad located the wayward youngster and brought food to the fledgling, who eventually flew off and caught up with the others.
It has been a sad day too as now we have no cute-as-buttons chicks to coo over! Oh well, such is life - at least these chicks are not like human kids, costing a fortune, running up huge debts at college and then moving back home having been priced out of the housing market just when you thought you had the place to yourself at last!
Anyway, we're glad that five chicks have managed to make their way out into the big wide world. And do you know what? We're missing them already.