Unless you've been watching constantly the young have probably already fledged and flown.

Thank goodness for that but where do they fly to? I assumed the nests would be used all summer.

Hi Arbutnot, Birds don't live in nests. They only use nests for nesting. Sometimes if there is enough food and good weather they can nest 2 to 3 times in the nesting season. They don't live in the nests, they roost in trees and will fly off somewhere else to roost.

Our blue tits have definitely fledged and gone. They often seem to fly at dawn so you do not see them go.

The parent pair are probably on their 2nd brood now but won't use the nest box as it needs cleaning out.

You need to get up earlyto see them fly as Ob says.....ours went this week too

MG...I didnt realise you need to clean them out after every brood...makes sense though...thanks!

My house wrens have just finished their first brood. I will clean the nesting box out and once they have shown their fledglings how to get their food sources and build up their wing muscles for a few weeks, round two will begin.

Can't clear ours out, we have block pillars with slabs on top inbetween wooden fence panels, one block under the slab top isn't flat a bit had broken leaving a gap......doesn't look big enough for them to get in and out!....behind is the neighbours hawthorn hedge so the babies are very safe from predators....clever bluetits ?

Thanks for all the replies. Glad I don't have to worry though I was looking forward to seeing the little ones flying around. I didn't think I could clean the box out yet as I need to be sure it isn't active still. The RSPB say it isn't legal except between August and January.

Not sure what to do now - leave the box till August or have a clean out now. Advice please.

Clean it out now. This way the box will be pest and disease free for a healthy new brood. August is the time most birds will be turning their attention to conditioning for migration or building up reserves to overwinter. Nesting is not an issue at that time for most. I can't understand what you have said about a regulation with regards to cleaning out a nesting box. Not cleaning out a nesting box between broods is an invitation to lower bird propagation in either discouraging a new nest or providing an unhealthy nest environment. Perhaps that legality has to do with an endangered species?

What the RSPB says is:

Unhatched eggs in the box, can only be removed legally between August and January - and must then be disposed of.

They also recommend not cleaning the nest until August but that is plain daft if the first brood had fledged.

I have just cleaned out my nest box. There was one perfectly formed but dead fledgling left in the nest. Presumably it had been smothered if there had been a large brood. However, being me, I Googled it and came up with the following, rather unrelated, answer from the Royal Ornithological Society:

"Please leave a nest box alone until the end of the breeding season even if it contains an abandoned nest and eggs or dead chicks in it. It is illegal to clean out nest boxes during the breeding season from 1 February to 31 July in case active nests are inadvertently disturbed. "

Oops. Now what do I do? Will the blue tits want to have another brood this year?

Never heard of the Royal Ornithological Society, the British Trust for Ornithology states the following:

Bird Protection Law permits the cleaning out of nests between 1 August and 31 January

It applies to cutting hedges too....well field hedges anyway, not sure about garden ones, sparrows nest in our front hedge.....

Having lived in a small farming village for 20 years I know about hedge cutting. Defra advises farmers to cut hedges around January/February but I used to get very angry at those who, as soon as the legal date of August 1st arrived, would cut them all back. That left little or no winter food for the small mammals. I tackled one of the friendlier farmers one day (nicely) and his reply was that the hedge would grow another six inches before winter. Hardly the point. Now I don't get so bothered about it because I moved to an urban area and don't see what I consider to be the ruin of the countryside. Farmers can also legally remove 20 or 30 metres of hedging each year without permission. You can see how that would work - 30m this, year, 30m from the other end next year and so on until no hedging remains.

The legal hedge cutting dates don't apply to gardens though.