Eyes open in box 2

I'm pleased to report today that the three youngsters in box 2 have their eyes open now and are beginning to move about the box, or at least one of them is, since only two can actually fit in the nest now! Here they are, showing a passing interest in the small beetle that is wandering about the floor of the box:

Box 3 are still incubating their two eggs, here is a changeover with the sitter fixing some more feathers on the nest:

Box 1 seem to have mislaid their eggs yet again, one being found on the roof tiles below the box so we don't think much is going to happen there this year. Never mind, it's practise for next year, hopefully they'll get it right then!

We've been away for a couple of days so we don't yet know what the situation is with the pair that were prospecting in box 5, one has been seen in there today but tonight will tell whether they are settled and roosting at night. There have been a lot of fly-pasts today at least, so hopefully I shall have good news next time.

A setback

Yesterday one of the birds in box 3 disappeared and did not come back to roost last night. The other bird has had to go out and leave the eggs un-incubated several times, and has been gone most of today so things are not looking good. Maybe a hobby has had it's partner, but at this early stage there's no way the other one could bring the eggs to hatching and at the same time feed itself.  Box 2 is still incubating and still has a partner right now, and the starling in box 4 is still feeding young -  the most we can see are three. And a starling is roosting again in box 6, maybe it's the other parent of the youngsters. The swifts in box 1 seem to have given up bringing in feathers. It seems that this is a bad year for swifts, several people on the swifts local network are saying that numbers are down to a third of what they were last year, so it's not just us seeing very few in our immediate area. We hope that Box 2 will continue to brood their eggs and raise young.

Below, the seemingly abandoned eggs in box 3, with box 2 still incubating, and the baby starlings huddled invisibly in the bottom of the nest: