Coal Tits and Sparrows

[Blaze3]

Over the past couple of weeks we have had a Coal Tit visiting a nest box in our garden in suburban Coventry. At first what we thought was one bird called in an adjacent tree for 2/3 minutes at a time, before entering the box. This continued for a week or so. We then saw the bird(s) with food. Given that the bird usually sat in the tree for some time I guessed that it was trying to impress a mate rather than feed chicks. Last weekend we saw a Sparrow coming out of the box and the Coal Tits(s) have not been seen since. Today we found 2 dead chicks, sporting very few feathers, on the ground a couple of metres from the base of the box. They didn’t look as if they had been food for anything. Last Sunday we found a dead chick 3/ 4 metres from the box. Would the sparrow have cleared the nest or could it have been something else? There was no damage to the nest box. The Sparrow sdon’t seem to be using the box now.

We have not had anything nesting in the box in years. It had been a real treat to see and hear the Coal Tit(s) each morning.

[FUDGEY]

It would not surprise me after seeing the swallow doing it last year on Springwatch.