Truro Dipper chicks

Summer is really getting going now and we've recently been out ringing our first pulli (nestlings) of the year. Whilst most of our other nestbox birds (tits) are still building, our Dippers are already feeding rapidly-growing chicks. We only monitor a couple of boxes near Truro, but both of these had chicks to ring last week.

Dipper nestbox-checking

The three chicks in this first box (from four eggs) were just sprouting flight feathers, but those in the second box (only two chicks out of five eggs...) were a few days behind, still being pretty naked. Two chicks from five eggs is a bit disappointing, but Dippers normally produce 2-3 fledglings per breeding attempt (per BTO BirdTrends page), so this isn't too bad.