Fledglings !

As predicted, no birds were interested in our camera-equipped bird box this spring.

For a little while now I've been keeping my eye on a pair of blackbirds coming and going into a small yew tree right by our living toom window.  Last night I caught a bit of motion out of the corner of my eye whist sitting on the sofa, and looked up to see the chicks fledging !  One popped its beak out, then half flew, half fell onto a nearby conifer.  It as there a while looking bemused, with its sibling peering out of the bush at it, then had another go at flying, which resulted in a tumble down to a lower spot on the same conifer. where it seemed to settle in for the night.  This morning the nest is empty, and the parents seem to be still about, so hopefully the fledglings are OK somewhere nearby.

On a less happy note, I had to cut free a dead sparrow from a pyracanthus bush this morning, where it had got snagged by the nylon thread in the remains of a bit of old carpet tangled round its leg.  Presumably it looked like suitable nesting material  Although some use old carpet in the garden, and compost vacuum cleaner bag contents, I don't because of the plastic (and other !) contaminants.   I wish folk would take more care with plastic waste  

We spotted a blckbird fledgling too on Tuesday. Calling off at a garden centre on the way back from my mother's rest home for a cup of tea, we had a wander round the plants afterwards (my other half was attracted by the sale notice, which was bright yellow and said 'Death Row'...). We were looking at the half dead plants - no bargains there) when we noticed movement under a deceased conifer in a pot. Peering out from the plant was a little fledgling still with his 'clown beak' waiting for food. We backed off, not wanting to alarm the parents.

How lovely CH to actually see them fledge. I had a beautiful, recently fledged blue tit plop down at my feet yesterday. It was in the passage between 2 sheds & instead of going for the exit it was trying to gain enough height to get over the shed. It was the tiniest bird I've ever seen. I picked it up & put it up high & after a couple of minutes rest it flew off into a tree.

Yeay! Our home-grown robins have fledged. They were scrambling about in the garage yesterday evening. Mum/dad trying to entice them out through the broken window.

We had a pair of long tailed tits nesting with us this year. Lovely, pretty little birds.

I saw the fledgelings one Saturday morning perched on my vines at the bottom of the garden. Tiny little things.

By lunchtime, the neighbour's cat had killed one, and would have had another if left to its own devices. I wish people didn't feel the need to keep cats

Nooooooo. I found one of our fledglings drowned in the garage toilet today. I'm so angry and upset that we didn't think to close the lid.

Having watched on nestbox-cam the blue tits raising successfully only one chick out of about 10 last year, I realised that nature is harsh, and for other creatures life of the individual is not necessarily quite so precious as humans regard it. That's how I consoled myself with our long tailed tits becoming a cat's plaything (it didn't even want to eat them).

All sorts of manmade things can become such a hazard to creatures not evolved to deal with them.

Oh Freebird that is sad but you can't think of everything. Last week, after a massive thunderstorm I found a nest on the ground outside our hotel with 3 dead chicks in it. It must have got washed out from wherever it had been and it really upset me to think of the mother bird trying to protect them from the rain in an impossible situation. For all the chicks that don't make it there are many that do and its always nice to see young birds later in the year that must have fledged from nests that I had no idea existed.

I have a fledgling blackbird sitting in my compost heap all day today. It almost got a bucket of weeds emptied on its head ! It has a sibling in the apple tree nearby, and both parents are feeding them. It is a heap built with plastic boards though, so I've opened it a crack just in case he's stuck there. Hopefully I can have my compost heap back tomorrow !

Think the robins are nesting in the garage again......

Yes, it's official! Robins have made a second nest in one of the wall mounted, small storage boxes. Here's hoping for a successful 2nd brood.

Fingers crossed Freebird.
For the last few years I've seen very few, if any wagtails. They always used to be plentiful every spring - pied and grey. So, I was really pleased a few weeks ago to see a couple of grey wagtails and even more pleased yesterday to see a fledgling. It had dropped to the ground but mother was nearby drawing attention away from it. When I passed by again 10 minutes later it had gone so hopefully got airborne again after a rest.
I also helped my neighbour with an abandoned litter of 5 baby hedgehogs, about 3 days old I think. Her dog had caught the mother a day or so before. She took them to a hedgehog rescue place. They had got really cold and lethargic so while she was preparing a hot water bottle for a traveling box I held them against my body to warm them up. After about 5 minutes they started to get quite active and squeaky so I think there is hope for them.

Our second brood robins left today. They've been flitting around the garage for about 48 hours, but no sign of them now. Toilet lid was firmly closed this time, along with washing machine door, and the man's landing nets taken down out the rafters. Took the first lot nearly a week to leave. Think the man is glad to be able to work in the garage again.

I noticed a swallows nest, with 3 chicks in it, in the dog run a couple of weeks ago. It is now empty so I hope the chicks have fledged and not become a dog's dinner. I've not known them fall out of the nest very often and they weren't too crowded so I'm hopeful that they have flown.