[mrgodfrey]

Murder in a bird box. This is quite a long story so please bare with me. We have had a Great Tit building a nest and sleeping in our box every night since January. The nest has been getting bigger. Three weeks ago I switched the teli on to see one bird on top of another one. I text my husband to say they were mating. I went into the kitchen but the noise in the box was so loud I came back to see what was happening. Two birds were fighting under the nest. They then came on to the top of the nest, still fighting. The one on the top then started pulling feathers out of the neck of the bird under him. I tel my husband to say that there was domestic violence in the box. The bird on top then picked the bird under him up by the neck and started to knock the birds head on the bottom of the box untill it was dead. I was absolutley traumatised by what I had seen on a large telivision screen. My husband said he would remove the dead bird when he returned from work. When he did this the bird was a blue tit which had obviously decided to take up residence in the box. The two great tits watched my husband and one of them was back sleeping in the box that night. THey have now started laying eggs, one a day so far which was why I went onto The Wild About Britain web site as I could not understand why she was not sitting on them. This site is amazing, I have learnt so much in the last hour. Really appreicate everyones comments. I now have neglected babies to look forward too.