Swift Half update - 28th December 2010

• No snow after all, just very welcome rain which has finally meant our lying snow and ice has thawed - it's very nice to see the garden again - it's been two weeks!
• Its always about this time of year I seem to locate night-time hidey holes for blue and great tits - often in pipes or scaffolding I find!
• Last year I noticed that our neighbours had blue tits spending the night deep in their scaffolding, a few years ago I found a great tit spending the night in a hollow, steel framed bike shed at work and tonight (or this afternoon I s'pose, it just feels like night at this time of year) I noticed where our "Swift Half" blue tits are spending the night.
• In May of this year, you might remember, I attracted swifts to the roof space of our house, by cleaning out an old nest in the attic and playing a swift call from my phone, dangling out of the attic window, a foot or so below their entrance hole.
• That attic window is very old, wooden framed and ill-fitting.
• A few minutes ago, I noticed two blue tits in the gloom in the garden, looking like they were ready to roost (years of watching birds' behaviour makes this sort of behaviour pretty obvious, especially at this time of year, like I've said).
• Anna and I watched - lo and behold, at least one of the tits flew straight up to the attic window and snuck in between frame and bricks - there's a big gap there.
• Anna has told me that in her parents' home a few years ago, a family of tits nested in a similar place (between window and wall) -so its clearly not a new thing this type of behaviour.
• I don't think they'll actually nest there in the spring - not enough room and plenty of other spots (and used nest sites in the house) around, but its lovely to know that the old, decrepit "Swift half" is providing roosting spots for these wee birds in the winter!
• I may try and sneak a camera into the hole and see what footage I can get....