Hoorah!

We're still in business!

I actually crawled out of bed at 6:05 this morning to check the nest cam! That time doesn't usually exist in my world!

When I first logged on, the nest looked very dark, empty and lonely - and as no motion had been recorded I was convinced Lola had abandoned it. A few minutes later I heard her calling in the garden, and a quick look through the kitchen window revealed her to be on the nearest hanging feeder - still scratching. She soon took off - in the opposite direction to the nest box. As she was still scratching like mad, I presumed she hadn't settled on the nest and had spent the night elsewhere. I went back to bed for an hour before getting up again to get Birdboy ready for school. I thought we'd had a rather abrupt end to our little on-going story.

However, when I looked at the live feed again at around 7:20am Lola was sat on her eggs and she was looking a lot more settled. She was still scratching but not quite as much. As for me, I was just a little relieved to see her back!

So, our story can continue.

Lola was still scratching a lot for most of the day and was quite unsettled. Things seemed to get better from 3pm onwards when the scratching finally started to get less and less. And then, by the end of the day, she seemed to be back to normal. So fingers crossed that whatever it was bugging her has gone. Fleas in the nest wouldn't be good!

An early-morning visit from Charlie - he's brought some snail eggs, I think
Relaxed at last!

Lola at 6:15 this morning

...and still itching like mad. I know it looks like she's preening - but it was more than that

As the nest box went dark tonight, Lola was on her eggs and settled.

Hurrah!