Monday 10th May 2021

Not too much to report thus far .. The usual cycle of feed/poo/dispose of !!

Both parents are doing a great job and seem to be coming in with lots of food.  

The calm before the storm until the chicks open their eyes and the feeding frenzy gathers pace!

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I think I have confirmed that there are eight chicks, still a bit tricky to see them all at once !! 

See what you think :

A little clip of the parents attending to the mass of yellow beaks, eager for a morsel of food.

Something I hadn't noticed over the past few years (with the lack of a camera microphone), is the amount of chatter between the parents. Love to know what they are saying to each other ? 

I bet he's being chastised for something !! 😂

Miserable day to start a new life ...

Saturday 8th May 2021

Grey skies and rain coming in sideways! not a great start for the new young family, but I'm sure they will persevere ..

I have searched through all of the clips, but still cannot categorically confirm that 8 chicks have successfully hatched .. but I am pretty confident that that is the case. 

It looks like egg no. 9, is not going to hatch, so we will have to pin our hopes on Mom & Dad raising just the 8 new chicks!!

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Here we can see the poor bedraggled parents, fresh from their latest sortie to find food, even in this most inclement weather!

Here is Dad doing his bit to feed the chicks before Mom returns... Amazing that at barely 1 day old, the hungry chicks are already presenting their bright yellow gapes begging for food ..

Both parents seem to be finding plenty of food at the moment, for both themselves and the chicks, let's hope that this continues as the chicks ravenous appetites ramps up! and Mom is being very attentive at keeping her brood nice and warm .. 

Not much else happening at the moment ... So, I shall continue to scour the clips, in search of confirmation of 8 big wide yellow gapes !! 

Till next time ... Stay safe and dry !!

New life ... Let the adventure begin ...

Friday 7th May 2021

Woke up this morning to spy a little pink spec, huddled under Mom.

Let the adventures begin, and fingers crossed for a successful outcome ...

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Dad peers in to bring Mom some breakfast, and you can imagine him saying wtf! and 'Where's the Mrs. gone now?" 😂

The proud parents, marvelling at their first born: 

Here we see Dad doing his bit ... Can also confirm that there are now 4 chicks at this point:

That first family photo !! 

I think that there are 7 hatchlings at this point, as I'm sure I can still see 2 unhatched eggs :

Couldn't confirm that the full complement had hatched by the evening, as Mom continued to cover them.

Let's see what tomorrow brings ...

Pre hatching update ...

Ahead of the imminent hatching of this year's brood, I am happy to report that so far everything is going to plan. 👍

Both parents seem very attentive, and the current inclement weather does not seem to have blown them off course!

We can see from this image, that the clutch this year is nine eggs. (I really don't think there is a 10th egg, but she does tend to hide them well!!)

Here we can see Dad doing his bit, by popping in for a chat and bringing in a spot of lunch :

That's all for now, hopefully by the next update we will be able to announce the arrival of  some new hatchlings ..

See you soon ...