A busy lady or two!!

We are off to India and Nepal tomorrow, so I've been a busy lady, cases packed, nails done, so no more dirty work in case I spoilt them!!

We are leaving behind another busy lady in our nesting box. I have been doing some searching on the internet and have come up with the following info. Not sure how accurate it is, but it gives us something to compare with the activity in our box.

........The Great Tit's eggs are the largest of the British tits at 18 mm by 14 mm; they are smooth and glossy, and white with purplish-red spots. She lays them at a rate of one a day; she tucks them under the nesting material, but doesn't sit on them until she has finished laying, so that they all hatch about the same time.
The female incubates the eggs by herself. She lays 7-15 eggs, incubation is 13-14 days and they should leave the nest in 16-22 days. After the young hatch, they are fed by both parents.........

I think she laid her first egg 10 days ago (17th) and her 6th egg last Monday (23rd). She has been sitting on them most of the time since. So according to the info above, she has been incubating them for 4-5 days and has another 9 days before they hatch. We will miss this but they will be still in the nest when we return. Looking forward to seeing how they get on.

Last year only 2 babies survived out of 8 eggs which hatched.

I will back blip on return from holiday and catch up with everyone's blips. Hope the UK weather improves soon!!