Breakfast Time

Despite the prevalence of cats all around we are delighted that, after two years' empty nesting, this year our birdbox has a family of bluetits in residence.

Our parent birds are quite different from each other in their approach to the nest. This one - always a bit ruffled-looking - is such a ditherer, hopping from branch to washing line to birdtable, to the box, back to the branch, here and there, before approaching the box, sitting looking around for ages, sometimes repeating the whole procedure, before finally entering the box to feed the babies. The other is much more sleek and self-assured, approaches from any of these perches and flies directly onto the box and pops straight through the entrance hole.

Last autumn it was suggested that we put a camera in the box but we didn't get round to it - how I wish we had.