Blue Tits in the garden

~ beetleypete

When we bought this house, we soon got around to putting up some nesting boxes. There was one with a small hole, to encourage Blue Tits, and another with a larger hole, in the hope of attracting larger birds. Unfortunately, the larger one never did attract anything, and eventually fell down. But the smaller one was reasonably high up on the oak tree, and has attracted nesting blue tits every year.

Despite being quite close to the house, and only ten feet away from where we sit outside, the birds ignore us, and go about their feeding routine. They are especially busy later in the day, so I took the camera out just now, and managed to get a shot of one of the adults entering and leaving the nest.
Please use the click function, and enlarge the photo to see the details.

Just arriving. A rear-end shot!

Emerging at speed!

As I didn’t use any support, they are not the greatest of shots, but I was very pleased to be able to capture some of the birds in action. They are very fast, and even close to 1/500th of a second, the flight shot is blurred. Still, they look better with some ‘wing action’ going on. 🙂 The box is not straight. Six years on the tree has made it a bit wonky. But I didn’t want to touch it once they were nesting.

I used the Sony RX 10 at full zoom, 200 mm. The birds were shot at f 2.8, and the first photo of the box at f.4

79 thoughts on “Blue Tits in the garden”

  2. How lovely for them to have this place to come to My dad has put an owl box in his garden trying to get an owl to nest but the owls insist on living in a wonky crate stuck in a tree. He is most disappointed.

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  3. What a fabulous action shot! I need to build some boxes. I actually would like to attract bats and owls, as well as other flying things. I have a good sized yard. I need to do my homework. Glad to see your box working! Have a great weekend. Koko 🙂

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    1. I am glad you liked the photo, Koko. We have bats roosting in the oak tree too, but no owls. Our garden is quite small. The bats appear at dusk, and will fly close to us as they catch insects in the air.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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        1. No, I haven’t made those. They rest in the trees around the house before arriving to catch insects. Many roost in the farm buildings locally, or in the bigger trees. They are not here all the time, and the Bat season is short. Female bats group together, but male bats remain solitary.
          Best wishes, Pete.

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  4. Lovely, lovely shots, dear Pete! 🙂 That’s wonderful. We have blackbirds nesting in the clematis, the woodpigeons are in the apple trees, sigh, and we’d love to have Blue Tits nesting a well. Some weeks ago we put up a nesting box on an apple tree at the end of the garden. I think it’s not high enough up. How high up is yours, app.?

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    1. It is only around 3 metres above the ground, Dina, not much more. They arrive every year since we put it up, and it would be sad if they didn’t use it one year. Glad you liked the photos.
      Love from Beetley, Pete and Ollie. X

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  7. Pure delight on every level, man facilitating nature etc. Blue Tits enchant me – I’d love to attract them to the garden if they weren’t doomed to be the sport of Lord Fancy-Tart.

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  10. Wow! That was fantastic and many thanks for sharing.

    I used to rent a flat in Edinburgh and one year when the chimney of our tenement roof was being repaired, a blue tit couple nested on a scaffolding hole and it was a treat to see the blue tits flying in an out the hole to feed their young. Work was suspended while the blue tits were nesting and resumed when the young finally flew the nest.

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    1. Thanks, Ron. I was just sitting in a garden chair, pointing the camera at the entrance hole, and pressing the shutter when I saw movement. Just lucky this time. Glad you liked the shot.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  13. We have bush tits, and I have to look and see how they compare to your blue tits. I love feeding the birds and watching their antics. This evening two cardinals were getting ready to make little cardinals!

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    1. I think the main difference is colour, Elizabeth. Your variety is brown, but looks much the same as our blue and yellow ones. I have never seen a Cardinal, except in photos.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  15. Here on Pandora, half the population has blue tits.

    Due to a couple of cats, recently introduced by neighbors, our back yard doesn’t attract as many birds as before. We still get some mockingbirds and hummingbirds, though. Mockingbirds tease the cats. And hummingbirds are too fast to worry about them.

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  16. I love watching the birds come to my feeders, though have had to stop putting out suet balls as the greedy magpies manage to take most of them. I haven’t seen any nests, but assume there must be some in the hedgerows. How nice to have blue tits nesting in your garden.

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    1. We have nesting Robins and Blackbirds too, but can’t see their nests in the hedges. The Blue Tit box is close to the back door, but they don’t seem at all bothered by us.
      Best wishes, Pete. x

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  17. Wonderful photos Pete! I love having birds nesting in the garden and it’s wonderful when they take up residence in the humble boxes we provide. I’m conflicted over here since the birds like my yard, but I have to worry about two bad boy felines lurking about.

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    1. We have many cats nearby, including one right next door. They do occasionally kill wood pigeons on the lawn, but tend to ignore the birds in the nest box. Glad you liked the photos.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  18. Great photos.
    Yesterday I took a photo from an oystercatcher – they have a nest on the flat roof and are often looking for food on the lawn. I can watch them through the window in my living room. 🙂

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      1. Pete, you will note that I “unfollowed” you and then “followed” you again to make sure you were at the top of my “follow” list…just so you understand I’m not wavering!

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  24. Great to see you being a birds’ friend and providing nesting boxes for these little critters, Pete! Here at the Arrow Lake we are enjoying the arrival of the first humming bird of the season. My wife has hung up three feeders into our maple trees. Best wishes! Peter

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    1. I will take a shot of the tree soon, so you can see just how big it is. 🙂
      It is almost 300 years old, and makes for nice shade, as well as a home for birds and bats. Just a shame about the leaves and acorns!
      Cheers, Pete.

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            1. The main issue is that all the oak trees are ‘protected’. That means we can’t trim them, or take off branches. It all has to be done by a specialist. Last year, it cost us over £800 to get a company in to trim two oaks, and that has to be done every five years or so. They have to be approved by the local council Tree Officer!
              (Yes, they have a ‘Tree Department’…)

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              1. That’s a bugger, and so not fair! If they need trimming it should be down to the council!! I wish I’d known you could get a job as a tree officer when I was looking for a career! They never tell you the good jobs in careers class!

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