A lot can happen in ten days...

Ten days offline, but so much has happened to the birds in my windowbox in that time, and I have been left guessing more than once. Friday 11th saw a mini tragedy on the very day I was hopeful that the eggs may begin to hatch. I had my customary peep at the nest when the female was on her rest break, and instead of five eggs, I saw three, and not a chick in sight. I hadn't been working next to the window that day but our flat is tiny and I felt sure that had the nest been attacked I would have heard the alarm calls. Either the eggs had hatched, the nestlings died immediately afterwards and were removed by the parents, or something had stealthily crept up and grabbed an eggy breakfast while the female was on a break.

This did not bode well at all, and as I was going away for the weekend, I could not help but fret. Sure enough upon our return on Sunday evening, there was no mother bird, and no eggs in the nest. This grim sight was made worse by having no idea what might have happened, but we had to assume that whatever had stolen the eggs first time around must have come back later for more.