Photographer captures video showing birth and growth of blue tit chicks

An amateur photographer has captured video from INSIDE a nest - showing the birth and growth of blue tit chicks.

David Kay, 55, had been curious to see the early stages of a blue tit's life and built a nest box in his garden for birds to lay their eggs inside - complete with a tiny camera.

Sure enough, two blue tits chose his nest box to be their home and Dave was able to watch the birth and growth of the chicks.

Dave captured the precious moments that unfolded from the day the birds hatched on May 8 until they ultimately grew strong enough to fly the nest.

The nursing director, who lives in Singleton, Lancs., said: "I’m really interested in photography especially wildlife, and I often wondered what it’s like inside the nest of a blue tit.

"I wanted to see how big the eggs are, how big the baby blue tits are, and how they can grow so fast to fly the nest 18 days after hatching.

"I witnessed them one by one hatching from the eggs which were no more than 10mm in diameter.

"I watched the adults building the nest over four weeks and waiting for there to be enough caterpillars in the trees to lay their eggs so that there would be enough food to feed the young.

"I then watched the blue tits take it in turns to sit on the eggs for two weeks before they hatched.

"Once hatched, it was really interesting watching how the adults fed each of the seven young in turn. I understand that some young can die but all seven survived!

"The adults would take the mess out of the nest each day to keep it clean and tidy.

"The nest was situated next to my shed door and the birds were never phased by me being around and they would often fly past my head to and from the nest.

"The day the baby birds flew, it was just luck that it was a weekend and I watched them leave the nest one by one. One of them landed in my kitchen through an open window!

"It’s been quite nerve racking! I felt like I had to look after them but on the other hand had to let nature take it’s path!

"It was also really surreal how they could grow so fast and go from literally no feathers to fully-fledged in less than three weeks.

"It makes you really appreciate what nature and the simple things mean, especially with how the world is at the moment with wars and pandemics."