rARsh!

Decisions, decisions

Is it okay to clean out nestboxes and what should I do with any unhatched eggs?

You can clean nestboxes outside the bird breeding season, between 1 August and 31 January. We recommend you do it in October or November.

It is illegal to keep any unhatched eggs. If there are unhatched eggs in the box, you can legally remove these between 1 August and 31 January, and you must throw them away.

- RSPB website

This could cause me a slight problem. If I wait until August, it’ll probably be after my doves will have been looking for a nest for the second brood. If I leave the egg there, they may not return to the nest and if I remove the egg before 1st August I may be send to jail.

Decisions, decisions.

DoveWatch 2007

… is over. The little scamp has fledged earlier than I expected.

Didn’t do very well there, did I? Sorry about that. Hopefully there’ll be a second brood later in the year for me to follow.

DigiScoping

Having read about digiscoping over at Geren’s place, I had a try at this myself - none too successfully, I must admit.

The middle photo sets the scene - yes, I was taking a photo through a pair of binoculars through a glass door. This may explain why the photos weren’t really up to much. Hand-holding the bins and the camera probably didn’t help much, either.

The first photo was the result when I just held the camera up to the binoculars while the right-hand photo was the same setup but with the little Canon zoomed to its maximum x3 optical zoom.

Having read further at Digiscope Diary I’m thinking the 400D would be more successful than the 850 but at the end of the day, I think I’ll stick to my monster zoom lens rather than look at a completely different set of kit (at £50 for the adapter and £300-£650 for the scope).

They’re impressive results from those who know what they’re doing, though.

In other news, it’s time for DoveWatch 2007 (it’s an unofficial tie-in for SpringWatch). Trouble is, the photos are pretty much identical to those from last year so this may be the only post in this year’s series

One dove, hiding the chick and egg in the nest

The Dovewatch Omnibus Edition

All good things

Bye bye birdies

Wow

Compare and contrast

23rd August

and now, a mere … um … ten days later:

2nd September

Wonders of nature, eh? At this rate they’ll have flown the nest (and gone to Dove University) by this time next week.

Aw, how quickly they grow up

As Daisy was asking …

Looking a lot more like birds

Be thankful I’ve not had a camera to hand when they’ve been feeding. It’s not pretty.

I kid you not

On TV last night there was an advert for (I think) some sort of carpet cleaning substance.

It closed with the line: “It’s Christmas, treat yourself.”

It’s Christmas?

In August?!

For goodness sakes.

DoveWatch

As you can see below, the hairs are beginning to look like feathers (which must be a relief to both chicks and mother). I was relieved, when I went to check on them during an enthusiastic thunderstorm this afternoon, that Colleen was protecting Rupert and Murdoch (albeit by sitting on them to keep the rain off). Sweet.