Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Chatting on the Plot => Topic started by: DanielCoffey on April 28, 2018, 13:19
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Hi folks,
We thought you might like to see this... some blackbirds have made a nest under the roof of the porch over our front door. They got the nest up over a couple of days without us noticing and have already laid four eggs in it. We know the rules about not disturbing nests so will have to wait until the chicks have left it even though it is right above our front door.
If we can, we will take more pictures once the chicks are visible from the ground as I don't want to disturb them by looming over the nest with a camera.
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Brill.
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Lovely, maybe another year you can install a web cam so you can watch without any disturbances
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Luckily Blackbirds are fairly human tolerant but i would not push it by having long doorstep conversations when she is sitting .
When hatched the chances of her deserting are slim with all those mouths to feed !
Might be worth thinking about cat deterrents if you have any moggies living nearby !
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Fortunately the cats can't get up there. She has picked about eight feet off the ground up in the roof of our open porch. It is a sheltered spot but right next to our front door. We can use the side door for a few weeks.
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We have workmen onsite for three days and she doesn't seem to mind them at all. Sitting tight, usually with eyes shut and head just under the edge of the nest.
Her partner will be in the trees nearby keeping up a constant litany of "Oh, I am such a lucky blackbird to have such a lovely wife..." and as long as he does this, she can sleep. The moment he does his alert call, her head pops up.
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Just wonderful!
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I think the pair of them have been very clever to choose such a desirable residence, you know what they say........location,location 😊
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REALLY zooming in on the nest pic shows a fifth egg at the lower left front.
She is still sitting, is used to my presence going in and out of the door now on the odd occasion I have to use it and is probably coming up to the first egg hatching in the next few days.
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I am sad to report that the two blackbirds under our porch lost their nest this morning. While it was sheltered from the weather, they were not concealed in any way and something came and scared them off the eggs.
There were five eggs and whatever ate them left all the shell remains in the nest. I suspect it was either the local Jackdaws as they were pretty close to the nest yesterday or perhaps a rat or small climbing mammal.
The blackbirds are still in the area and will probably be looking for a more sheltered and hidden spot for their next nest as they have already abandoned this one. It is early enough for them to have at least one more go.
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I would have expected jackdaws or magpies to remove the shells from the nest unless they had hatched and just the chicks were taken.
Any squirrels in the neighbourhood ?
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They were not quite at the point of hatching... I reckoned one more day for the first egg and an extra day for each of the four after that.
I suspect mammals too now I think about it. The five eggs were eaten in the nest, leaving all the shells in the nest with nothing spilled on the slabs underneath. We do have a few grey squirrels but are very rural here. It could have been rats or any small climbing mammal. Whatever it was, it was ballsy enough to ignore the parents while they yelled at it.
Fortunately the female has already selected a new nest site. I saw her collecting moss yesterday evening.
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Oh how sad, I know it’s a fact of life but it always makes me realise how fragile life is