A Day of Surprises

Shot of the Day

Looking quite cosy

The first thing I did when I got up this morning was to check if any eggs had been laid in the nesting box but  unfortunately there wasn't. Apart from a brief period of nest building in the morning there was little sign of the Blue Tits for most of the day until just after tea time. (watch the video at the end of the blog)

I had just settled back with a mug off coffee when Tootlepedal rang to see if I fancied a trip up to the Moorland Feeder Station.  

I managed to get a couple of shots of Mrs Tootlepedals tulips before we left

When we arrived at the station there was already someone there watching from the comfort of their car so rather than disturb them we headed for Whita hill to see if there was any action from the Hen Harriers. The only action we saw was a lone goat and the intermittent swiping of the windscreen wipers. After a short while we decided to head back to Wauchope Cottage for a cup of coffee. 

I left Tootlepedal waiting for some B & B guests on the arrangement that we would meet later if the rain had faired up and the guests had arrived. 

I intended to spend some time on the Common Riding films but I got distracted and ended up in the green house for a while potting up Begonias. 

These were part of the distraction

I was well entertained by this little energetic Field Mouse.

The Collared Dove and Nuthatch were also welcome visitors

I had just returned from picking up the painting from the Town Hall Gallery when I got a phone call from Tootlepedal suggesting a quick visit to the Moorland Feeder Station as the weather had faired up and was looking a bit brighter.

There was little activity in the nest box for most of the day until about 6:30 when the female returned. She did lots of shuffling about in the nest, arranging herself this way and that, suddenly the male appeared and presented her with a sunflower seed and flew  off again. She tucked the seed into the side of the nest and shortly after flew off herself giving the nest cam a good shot of the two eggs she had just laid. she returned a couple of minutes later and settled down on the eggs. Later he appeared again did the same thing as before but when she left the nest momentarily there were still only two eggs.