Country diary: a webcam gives us a bird's eye view | Country diary

Langstone, Hampshire: She's brought in clematis, moss and cat fur to build the nest. Soon, surely, the egg-laying will beginFor the past three years, blue tits have nested in a box on the wall beneath my bedroom window, and we've become curtain-twitchers, peering covertly out to watch the adults come and go and listen to the peeping chicks. But what goes on inside the cavity? Curiosity piqued, we installed a new box with a solar-powered camera over the winter.On 19 March, a female blue tit staked her claim, roosting in the box overnight. Nest building commenced early the following morning. I'd assumed she would pick up fallen twigs to form a framework. Instead, she snapped off thin, flexible side shoots from the Clematis montana which smothers our fence. Each piece was repositioned several times before she prostrated herself, wings splayed for balance, and spun around, pedalling her legs to press the material into place. Continue reading...