Nestwatch 2007 Archive

22 April - Finally, an egg is laid!

22/04/07

Finally, an egg! Today saw the bird sitting for long periods on the nest. Both were still bringing in nesting material.

The partially tagged bird has been confirmed as the male (Nr. 2), and the female untagged bird is now called Nr. 1.

Bird Nr. 1 (the female) was sitting for quite a long time. By mid afternoon, she was a little restless, and around 3pm, after some effort, she laid an egg, much to the delight of the lucky people who were watching the live images.





She didn't incubate the egg straight away, but sat on the edge of the nest for approximately 40 minutes, before flying off the nest leaving the egg alone.

However, she soon returned within ten minutes. She had brought back a wood mouse. Finally, after eating the mouse, in what seemed like record time, she made herself comfortable and settled snugly over the egg.