Friday May 1st 2009
In the spring of 2007, the beautiful garden of the Mary Aikenhead Centre in Donnybrook was created by volunteers and materials donated by listeners to the Mooney Show. The garden was officially opened by Uachtaráin na hÉireann Mary McAleese on Wednesday 9th May 2007.

At the time of construction Derek decided to put up a nest box with a built-in camera installed in the hope that a pair of Blue Tits might use it as a safe place to breed. Last year, a pair of Blue Tits began building a nest and we hoped that they would lay eggs and raise their young under the watchful eye of the staff and visitors to the centre. Alas, for some unknown reason, the birds abandoned the nest before it was completed and the nestbox remained empty for the summer.

However, this April a pair took up residence again and began building a nest. When they started lining the nest to make it comfortable for the female we suspected that this year, they would complete the job. A clutch of eggs was laid and, early today Friday 1st May we can see that the female is incubating TEN eggs.

Female Blue Tits will produce anything from 6 to 12 eggs (sometimes as many as 16) with the average clutch size being around eight eggs. The female will lay one egg each day and will not start to incubate the eggs until the very last egg is laid. Once she starts to incubate the eggs, they will take 14-16 days before they hatch. The timing of their hatching is crucial and hopefully will coincide with an abundance of food such as caterpillars and insects.

Many Blue Tits nests failed due to the very bad weather we had this time last year. Birds found it very difficult to find enough food to feed their young and many chicks died of starvation. It is estimated that a family of Blue Tits need up to find 15,000 items of food to successfully feed their young. Depending on the supply of insects and caterpillars, the young will take anything from 16 to 22 days to fledge (the average is about 20 days). Let us all hope that this year will be a better breeding season than last year as Blue Tits will only attempt to raise one family each year.

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Tuesday May 5th 2009
It is now five days since the female Blue Tit started incubating her 10 eggs. During this period things can be quiet in the box…it really is a waiting game. Throughout the incubation period (which will last for about another 10 days), the female will spend most of her time sitting on the eggs. The male will constantly bring food to her but she will also leave the nest for short periods of time to feed, preen and stretch her wings. When she is away the eggs will be kept warm by the lining of feathers that she has brought into the box.

When she returns, she often pulls the lining of the nest around her immediately after she settles down…this ensures all the eggs are kept warm. Watching the images in black & white makes it difficult to judge colours and a listener phoned in to ask ‘what colour were the eggs’? Blue Tits have pale cream-coloured eggs with small brown spots and smudges. Most birds that nest in the open will have darker, more camouflaged eggs. Birds that nest under cover or in holes usually lay paler eggs as there really is no need to worry about hiding their eggs.

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Thursday May 7th 2009
It is a warm and sunny morning in Donnybrook and the female continues to sit tight. She is leaving the nest on occasions but returns very quickly. As she settles down to incubate the eggs again, she always pulls the lining of the nest in around her, almost tucking herself in. A listener asked if all the eggs will get the same attention and warmth. If you watch the webcam for long enough, you might just see that, on occasions, she will turn the eggs and move them around...ensuring all are kept warm and that all are incubated. Having said that, ten eggs is a lot for such a small bird to cover and it will only be later in the month when the chicks hatch that we will know for certain if all the eggs are fertile.

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Saturday May 9th 2009
It is a cold, dull and wet morning in Donnybrook, but the female looks as 'snug as a bug in a rug'inside the nest box. She is still sitting tight and is constantly tidying the nest. She is also so relaxed in her surroundings that, this morning, she has spent lots of time sleeping...she'll need to rest now because in less than a week, she may have ten chicks which will demand her constant attention. Some concern was expressed on yesterdays show that the male may not be still around. Let me assure listeners that he is there and has fed the female at least once today. He was also in and out of the nest with food for her throughout yesterday.

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Monday May 11th 2009
It's a beautiful sunny morning in Donnybrook and this morning the female has turned the eggs several times. By moving them and turning them, she is making sure all the eggs of this large clutch are incubated. We believe she started incubating them on Friday 1st May so this is Day 11. I expect that by the end of this week, we will see chicks. Incubation takes on average 14-16 days so the young birds will be in the world for National Dawn Chorus weekend. It's then that the real work for these attentive parents will begin in earnest.

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Wednesday May 13th 2009
The female continues to sit tight. At this stage it is almost two weeks since she began incubating the clutch of ten eggs. We think she started on 1st May so it can only be a few more days before her chicks hatch. It has been a cold and windy day in Donnybrook with light showers of rain. During such weather, the advantages of nesting in a hole in a tree or, in this case, a nest box becomes obvious. She is sheltered from the elements.

Other species like Blackbirds which nest in trees and hedges really have to sit very tight to make sure the eggs don't get wet. By comparison, our Donnybrook Blue Tit is enjoying the warmth and comfort that a nestbox brings. The male has fed her several times throughout the day. Besides providing food for her, this feeding also strengthens the bond between them. They will need to work as a team as soon as the chicks arrive.

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Thursday May 14th 2009
Its a cool, damp and dull morning in Donnybrook but our nestbox is full of activity. This morning, in the dull early morning light, something was happening. Both parents were in the nestbox carrying food items.

They both seemed quite excited and anxious. The reason for this behaviuor became instantly clear as soon as they both left the nest...at least five, possibly six, little chicks had hatched. Throughout this morning all the remaining eggs will hatch and, by this afternoon, we will know exactly how many of the ten eggs laid, will hatch. Today is the first day of these little chicks lives...and it marks the first really active day at the nest.

At this stage the chicks will need very small amounts of food so the female will continue to sit over them to keep them warm. They are bald and helpless at the moment. It will be a few days days before they begin to grow down feathers which allows them to maintain their own body heat. It will be all action form now on.

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Friday May 15th 2009
It is a dull and overcast morning in Donnybrook and the female continues to spend lots of time brooding her chicks. Yesterday morning, the first of the eggs hatched and by the late afternoon, it seems at least nine chicks were present. It is very difficult to count the chicks at this stage as they all sit very tightly together and its only when one of the adults arrives to feed them, that we can get an idea of how many there are by counting their open mouths.

Several people asked if the chicks were in danger of suffocating when the female sits on them. The answer is no, the female is very careful when she settles down and often she has to make three or four attempts before she settles in. The young birds don’t need too much food at this stage so keeping them warm is just as important. When chicks need to ‘deposit a dropping’, their present their dropping in a membrane called a ‘faecal sack’. This is then brought away from the nest. However, at this stage of their lives their digestive tracts are not fully developed so any food their eat is not fully digested. For that reason, when the chicks are this young, there is still some nutritional value in these faecal sacks and so the female will eat them…why waste valuable food!

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Saturday May 16th 2009
It has been a wild, wet and windy night in Donnybrook and this morning has seen many heavy and prolonged showers. The chicks are now in their third day and even at this stage it is remarkable to see how big they are in comparison to when they hatched out last Thursday. The female continues to sit tight, keeping them warm. But with such heavy rain and high winds all around, its easy to see the advantages of nesting in a nestbox. The female and her chicks are dry and warm. The male continues to bring food and when he arrives, she takes it from him and she feeds the chicks. I have yet to see the male feed a chick but, as they get older, both parents will feed them. At the moment, so far so good at this nest. It is hard to see how many chicks are in there but its seems like at least nine are present but lets hope all ten eggs hatched.

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Monday May 18th 2009
It has been a cool day in Donnybrook but the constant heavy showers has not prevented this pair of Blue Tits from going out in search of food. Anyone watching the webcam for the first time since Friday (I'm told many of you watch it on your computer at work or in school!!) will be amazed at how big these chicks have grown in such a short time. Over the next few weeks they will put on over ten times their body weight and it will take over 15,000 food items to be found by their parents for them to grow to their fledging size. They are just about one gram when they hatch and will be over 12 grams when they leave. Some differences in behaviour can now be seen. Today, when a chick 'presented' a faecal sack, it was removed from the nest by the parent. When the chicks were very young, this was eaten by the female. The fact that it is removed means the young birds are now digesting their meals properly so there is no more nutritional value in the feacal sack for the adult. The male has also been observed feeding the chicks. Again this is a sign that the young birds are becoming more demanding. Up to now, it was only the female that fed the chicks. These young birds are now five days old and doing well. Over the next two weeks we will see how these busy parents will fare with such a large family.

Click here to see the nest

Monday May 18th 2009
It has been a cool day in Donnybrook but the constant heavy showers has not prevented this pair of Blue Tits from going out in search of food. Anyone watching the webcam for the first time since Friday (I'm told many of you watch it on your computer at work or in school!!) will be amazed at how big these chicks have grown in such a short time. Over the next few weeks they will put on over ten times their body weight and it will take over 15,000 food items to be found by their parents for them to grow to their fledging size. They are just about one gram when they hatch and will be over 12 grams when they leave. Some differences in behaviour can now be seen.

Today, when a chick 'presented' a faecal sack, it was removed from the nest by the parent. When the chicks were very young, this was eaten by the female. The fact that it is removed means the young birds are now digesting their meals properly so there is no more nutritional value in the feacal sack for the adult. The male has also been observed feeding the chicks. Again this is a sign that the young birds are becoming more demanding. Up to now, it was only the female that fed the chicks. These young birds are now five days old and doing well. Over the next two weeks we will see how these busy parents will fare with such a large family.

Click here to see the nest

Wednesday May 20th 2009
Even though the young birds are now seven days old, the female is spending lots of time brooding them (that is keeping them warm). Their first set of feathers are down feathers and they are designed to keep them warm. At this satge the birds are just beginning to show down feathers but on a cool and overcast afternoon like today, the female is still keeping them warm. She is also doing a lot of tidying of the nest. With a box full of chicks, the lining of the nest gets disturbed when they move around so she seems to be constantly tidying up after her young (does that sound familiar to any parents out there?).

It is hard to be certain but it seems that there are certainly eight chicks still in the nest...although all ten might still be there. Its only as they get bigger that we can see for certain if all ten chicks that hatched, ahve survived. However, for the moment, so far so good. The parents have got them through their first week.

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Friday May 22nd 2009
The chicks seem to be getter bigger by the day...and they are! At this stage both parents are constantly coming and going to the nest with food. The demands being made on the parents by the chicks are enormous. As they grow, the hungier they get and the more food they need. These chicks are now nine days old so they are about half way through their life span in the nest. The first down feathers are now more obvious and over the next few days the first flight feathers will begin to show through as 'pins' on the wings.

There are still at least eight birds in the nest so the parents are doing very well. For those who check the website at work or at school, you will be amazed to see how big these young birds will be when you next log on on Monday.

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Sunday May 24th 2009
It is a lovely sunny morning in Donnybrook and our large family is doing extremely well. On Saturday morning and again this morning, I am pleased to say that I counted at least nine chicks in the nest. It is only as they grow larger that it becomes easier to count them all. So our Blue Tit parents have done extremely well so far. At this stage the young birds are far more active in the nest, moving around and flapping their wings. Both parents are constantly visiting the nest and the female no longer stays with them.

The chicks all huddle together to keep warm and, with down feathers beginning to grow, the need for her to brood them is not a requirement at this stage. Each day their wing feathers grow a little more and become far more obvious when they wing flap. Even at this early stage they are exercising their wing muscles. They are now 11 days old and over the nest week will become more and more demanding. With nine chicks to feed, the demands on these parents will increase each day. To have managed to still be feeding nine chicks at this stage is a tribute to the dedication shown by these birds.

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Monday May 25th 2009
These chicks seem to just get bigger by the hour. At least nine birds remain in the nest and the parents are constantly coming and going with food. For the female, it is getting harder to keep the nest tidy. It takes great effort to get to the bottom of the nest to maintain it in good order...nine chicks are hard to move! With feathers growing rapidly on these young birds it is amazing to see them begin to preen themselves. Even since yesterday they seem to be far more active and are flapping their wings and moving about inside the box.

They are 12 days old today and over the next few days will grow even faster. They will leave the nest in 6-8 days time. The coming week is the critical week for them. As they grow, more and more food needs to be found. Let us keep our fingers crossed that all of these young birds make it through the next week to fledging.

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Tuesday May 26th 2009
The 'gang' at this nest are still doing extremely well. Several listeners to yesterdays show said that there were ten young still present. As I have said it is only as the birds get older that it becomes easier to count them. Over the weekend I certainly counted nine but watching this morning I did indeed count ten. So, this pair of Blue Tits have raised ten young to be 13 days old. That is wonderful indeed. It also says a lot for the rich food to be found in the surrounding area and in the lovely garden in the centre.

Looking at the nest this morning, I think for the first time, the young birds actually look like Blue Tits. Their feathers are growing rapidly and they are much more active. The next few days will be the hardest...with ten ever-growing hungry chicks to feed, the pressure on the adults will be enormous...let us hope that this large family will succeed.

Click here to see the nest

Wednesday May 27th 2009
It has been a dramatic night and early morning at the Mary Aikenhead nestbox. Last night, one of our listeners reported that, at 9.30pm, a bat entered the nest box and appeared to grab one of the chicks. It then struggled to find its way out. Immediately after this, the chicks remained extremely quiet but shortly after, one had died.

This dead chick was then removed by an adult...although it took some effort to do so. This is indeed drama. I was very puzzled by this because, as far as I am aware, all ten Irish species of bats eat insects and would not prey on the likes of nestlings.

I have spoken to Conor Kelleher, Ireland's leading bat expert, and he believes that it is possible for a bat to have entered the nestbox. Of the ten species we have in Ireland, eight will go into boxes. However, none of our Irish species will ever attack a nestling. Conor believes the bat may in fact have been trying to move close to the chicks for warmth. Bats always huddle up together and many bats have had a very long hibernation this year. Many of the younger bats are slightly under condition and, with the current cold nights, this bat might simply have tried to keep warm.

Another suggestion made by someone else is that when the bat went inside the box, it is quite possible that it mistook the fluttering of one of the chicks for the fluttering of a large moth and made a grab for it. At least that explains the bats behaviour. Why one of the chicks died may not be related to this incident. As I have said several times over the last few days, this last week is the critical one. The competition for food is at its greatest and even looking at the nest today, it is obvious that some of the chicks are stronger and bigger than others. I believe these smaller, weaker birds may not survive.

Of course if a chick dies the adults will try to remove it as they may attract flies to the nest. If ten birds were still in the nest yesterday, I can only make out eigth today...so it seems we have lost two. Sad as this is, with ten birds hatched, we did expect to lose chicks during this last week.

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Thursday May 28th 2009
It has been a tough day at this nest. As warned, this last week is a difficult one and as I wrote yesterday, I feared some of the obviously smaller and weaker chicks might be lost. This morning revealed that my fears were well founded...only five live chicks remain. The problem now is that, despite their very best efforts to remove the dead chicks from the nest, the dead birds are too big and heavy for the adults to lift up and carry out.

They have tried several times to do this. Dreadful as this is to watch, it is a part of the natural cycle. Only the strongest survive. Unfortunately, the design of the nest box does not allow easy access to the nest chamber for us to remove the dead chicks for the adults. It would involve removing the entire upper part of the nest box and roof in order to get to the inner chamber, taking the dead chicks out, while trying to keep the five live chicks from jumping from the nest before screwing the whole thing back into place. Without assistance staying at the nest for such a long time might result in the adults abandoning the nest altogether, leaving the remaining five chicks to die of starvation.

The risk of this being the result of any intervention was too great to the remaining chicks. They are now 15 days old so it is only another couple of days before they may fledge so let us all hope the remaining five chicks will make it out. Why these chicks died is not just because the adults weren't always able to find enough food, it's more that the strongest chicks get fed first. With the chicks getting bigger and more demanding, the weaker birds get less food and eventually succumb.

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Friday May 29th 2009
It is a warm and sunny day in Dublin and this is good news. This might allow this very active pair of Blue Tits to continue to find lots of food which they seem to be doing. Following the drama of yesterday we were left with just five chicks still alive. I feared that at least one or two of the remaining five looked smaller than the others and may die. Again, my fears were well founded.

Checking the nest this morning, there are now just four birds alive. This was a harrowing scene but is, whether we like it or not, part of nature...only the strongest survives. No doubt this scene is being played out in nest holes right across the country. Our female was trying to tidy up the nest as best she can and attempted several times to remove the dead chicks. However, these are almost as heavy as she is and would be like a 10 stone human woman trying to lift a dead weight of 9 stone over her head and pushing it through a small hole. It is next to impossible for her to achieve.

So, following consultation with our Birdwatch Ireland partners, we decided to give the removal of the dead chicks another go. With Derek taking time off his holidays, we met at the centre and, when the parents were gone, Derek and I sprung into action! Within a few minutes we had the nest chamber open and within another few minutes I had successfully removed four dead chicks, I had expected the young birds to panic but they were the picture of calmness.

They crouched down and stayed still…a perfect reaction to the approach of a predator. Once the dead chicks were removed, the roof was placed back on and we left the site very quickly. Within two minutes both parents were back at the nest feeding their young. They did seem puzzled by the sudden tidiness of the nest and spent some time checking things out. Within five minutes, things were very much back to normal…mission accomplished!

It is now a clean and safe environment for the whole family. Looking at the four remaining chicks, one still seems to be weaker but with just four mouths left to feed, this smaller chick might get more food. They are 16 days old now and at last are within the fledging period (birds will leave the nest when they are between 15-22 days old). So it may be that these parents need to keep these four young going for just another day or two before getting them out of the nest.

I expect they will leave some time over the weekend so we ask our listeners to please keep watching and let us know how many fledge and when they leave. Fingers crossed the remaining four fledge successfully.

Click here to see the nest

Sunday May 31st 2009
It has been a very warm and sunny weekend in Dublin. After the drama of Friday when four dead chicks were removed from the nest, it is wonderful to see four healthy and very bright chicks still alive and well. The parents have been feeding the birds constantly and all four are getting their equal share.

It is amazing to see how adult-like the birds have become over the past two days. They are constantly preening their feathers and, more importantly, exercising their wings. Until this weekend, they barely flapped their wings but now they're fluttering their wings really hard. They need to build up their wing muscles and this marks the time when they are readying themselves to leave the nest.

I have suggested previously that the birds will fledge on Mon 1st June and all action inside the nest suggest that they may, indeed be gone by then. If all four leave, it will be a job well done by the Mary Aikenhead parents.

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Monday June 1st 2009
It has been a hot and sunny day in Dublin and, on days like this, the wisdom of nesting in a north-facing location makes sense. If the nestbox was south-facing, it would be in direct sunlight all day and would be extremely uncomfortable for the chicks inside.

All along, I have suggested that today would be the day when the chicks would fledge. The action at the nest has been frantic all day with both parents feeding the young birds almost every minute. The young birds are spending so much time preening and wing flapping that, on occasions, the parents have struggled to get them to take food. Several times one bird, which, to my eye, looks slightly bigger than the other three, almost went to the entrance hole but went back. As night fell, all four chicks were settling down for the night. All four have been well fed today and remain healthy birds.

It is interesting to note that they rarely present faceal sacks to the parents at this stage...the female has been busy keeping the nest clean and has had to search for faceal sacks depositied inside the nest. Between this and the intensive preening of their wing feathers, these birds are ready to leave the nest. Surely tomorrow will be the day?

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Tuesday June 2nd 2009
It is 8.30pm as I write todays diary and, as I look at the nest I can see that our four young birds are settling down for another night. All day I expected them to leave. On so many occasions the birds went to the entrance hole, fluttering their wings and, at the last moment, dropped back down into the nest. There were so many false alarms that by the end of the day I began to realise that they just weren't inclined to leave. Another day in the nest will do no harm...they'll be bigger and stronger when they leave.

The parents continue to feed them at the nest and they have been fed very well throughout the day. At some stage the parents will come back to the nest but not feed them. Instead they will try to entice them to go outside for food. When one goes, they will all follow. I know I have said this for the past few days but surely tomorrow will be the day!

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Wednesday June 3rd 2009
It is 8.40pm as I write tonights diary and I just can't believe it. The Mary Aikenhead gang are tucked up and sleeping in the nest again. I have been prediciting that they would leave the nest for the past two days but here they are, once again, making a liar out of me! All day the four birds have been taking it in turns to flutter to the entrance hole and look out at the world. Whatever they're seeing, they don't seem in too much of a hurry to take that leap of faith.

In fact, the young birds are getting so good at flying, they have even gone to the top to the box and stared straight into the camera. They were hatched on 14th May which marks Day 1 of their lives. Today they are 21 days old. The average fledging period (according to all the books) is 16-22 days. So tomorrow they are 22 days...surely, they will leave tomorrow? The parents have been feeding them actively all day and the young birds asleep in the nest this evening are healthy, well-fed birds indeed.

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Thursday June 4th 2009
It's another lovely sunny morning in Dublin and, like the past few days, the activity inside the box has been frantic. All four chicks have been taking it in turns to go to the entrance hole to gaze at the outside world. Both parents have been feeding the young birds inside the nest. It seemed like today was going to be another long day of indecision by the chicks but then, just after 8.20 AM, one went to the entrance hole. After a moment of hesitation, it jumped and was gone!

Suddenly there was urgency in the chicks actions and within ten minutes, the remaining three had followed their sibling!

All four are gone. A job well done by the Mary Aikenhead parents.

Click here to see the nest