Joy and sadness

The Blue Tits are very active and vocal in the nest box and a quick look today showed 5 large young which will surely fledge in the next couple of days (2 weeks later than in my parents garden in UK). The Great Tits on the other hand suddenly stopped visiting the box and both adults were causing great consternation for the Blue Tits by investigating their nest box. After being sure that the Great Tits were no longer visiting their own nest I took down the box to find 5 unhatched eggs which the female has been brooding for over 6 weeks nos. Presumeably after sitting on the eggs for over a month the female had accepted that they were not going to hatch. I wonder whether the bird feels anything or if there is just a natural response after a certain period of time. After I had taken the box down both Great Tits returned to where it had been and looked very confused. I put it back up (with eggs and nest removed) and will see what they do. In previous years they have failed at the nestling stage and then gone on to try again either in the same box after I have cleaned it out or in the other box if it was empty. I feel that this year it is too late for them to try again but we will see.