Thanks for confirming! Couldn't see any evidence of eggs so think it just pulled the nest out, let's hope they don't find the second attmept...

A new nest found today at another site already destroyed (likely by woodpecker @richardkbroughton.bsky.social?). Thankfully early enough to re-excavate and build a new nest (3 & 4), although right by a main footpath with lots of dogs off the lead. Fingers crossed… #UKBirding

When excavating a nest cavity, Willow Tits share the work, taking it in shifts. These two birds are particularly inseparable - one will often sit on top of the nest or at the entrance whilst the other is inside digging. It’s wonderful to watch.

Note how they use a lot less moss than other tit species - a lot of the ones I’ve seen use quite a lot of reedmace.

I think 10 from this pic.

Update: so far so good! #UKBirding

Hope you find it useful, it was something we dealt with regularly when I worked as a consultant before the current gig. I’d like to think it’s an unbiased discussion of how they can be useful for GN farmland birds, but that there is also work to do to realise those benefits.

Thank you!

Yep, have done so today.

Thanks, good to know. I’m torn whether to intervene or not because hopefully it will be part of a larger dataset and that may distort results. My heart says to do something though…

Yes - this was a couple of weeks ago.

A and J’s camera placement is better than mine too 😉

I’ll do my best (whilst still hoping it survives obviously) 🫡

SD card replaced and positioning adjusted (so the cavity is actually in focus) today!

Sadly the case, but definitely 10th of April!

Yes a real shame, and I also saw the male knocking about when I went to check it today. Wishing you better luck!

Some ominous footage gathered a few days ago from one of the Willow Tit nests we are monitoring. GSW are the most common predator of WT nests in Britain, and having increased by ~400% since the late 60s, it's not a threat that's going away. Let's hope this one has amnesia... #UKBirding #Yikes

very few studies on solar parks and birds in the UK, there is a need for more research to determine which management interventions are practically feasible and provide the greatest biodiversity uplift on solar parks. Give the paper a read, if you like! 4/4 #UKBirding #Renewables

Focal watches showed these birds spent the majority of their time within the perimeter of the solar park foraging, demonstrating that if managed favourably for biodiversity, solar parks can be a useful habitat for farmland birds during the breeding season. However, as this is only one of 3/4

We describe clutch sizes, number of fledglings, nest success rates and causes of nest failure for five Corn Bunting nests at this site between 2019 and 2023, as well as 36 nests within an approximate 1-km radius from the solar park boundary. 2/4

Excited to share our new paper in @britishbirds.bsky.social! We present the first confirmed evidence of farmland ground-nesting bird nests on a solar park in the UK. We also conducted focal watches to understand how Corn Buntings were using Westmill Solar Park during the breeding season. 1/4

A spectrogram of a singing male Wood Warbler.

Not been to Wharncliffe for ages after moving away from home, but you’ve just reminded me of a glorious afternoon down in the woods with this singing male Wood Warbler in April 2024. Such a joyous, and sadly rapidly vanishing sound….

It’s never too late to continue a 1200+ year dataset. Please share.

A Willow Tit nest cavity well-disguised in a dead Silver Birch stump.

A close up of a Willow Tit nest cavity entrance in a dead Silver Birch stump.

Wood chips from a Willow Tit cavity excavation.

New Willow Tit nest found this afternoon at one of our field sites. Two other preliminary excavations found before this final full attempt - adult seen carrying nest material. Four hours of getting scratched to oblivion worth it in the end! #UKBirding

An image of a female Willow Tit leaving her nest cavity in a Willow snag early in the morning.

An image of a female Willow Tit leaving her nest cavity inside a nest box after roosting for the night.

Fascinating how these two female Willow Tits are going to roost in their nest cavities within a minute or so of each other (around 19.45) and also leaving them in the morning at 6.23. The male birds escort them to bed and are often seen waiting for them in the morning too. Amazing birds.

The splendid song of a Willow Tit for your Friday afternoon! ☀️ #UKBirding

Because of the ongoing rapid decline & persistent reports of disturbance we have taken the difficult decision this week to add Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers in the UK to the long list of eBird sensitive species support.ebird.org/en/support/s... despite the cost to the science of #Ornithology #UKBirding

In today's episode of Black mirror - “Intelligence is a utility, like electricity or water, and people buy it from us on a meter.”

Another tech bro (Sam Altman's turn) telling the world again - their aim is to deliberately make the world worse, so that they can make money.

Sunrise over a reedbed.

A Willow Tit singing in a shrub.

Marsh Harrier flying above a reedbed.

A Black-necked Grebe resting on a water body.

One of three Willow Tit discovered during playback surveys this morning. Displaying Marsh Harrier and freshly arrived Black-necked Grebe not bad either… #UKBirding

Btw, this info is all down to the @btobirds.bsky.social Atlas projects and the volunteers who collected the data. The new Atlas is starting next year, 2027-2031, and it's well worth taking part to give us updates on the incredible level of information we have in the maps below. #ukbirding