BirdForum

Sorry to say that after several days of not seeing PEG, I bit the bullet and went up close to the nest. Three eggs in total, one perched on the edge of the nest box, the other two burried in the nest material, all cold as stone.
One of the eggs was cracked and after a little prod, my daughter and I saw the embryo quite clearly.
I have left the nest material in the vain hope that PEG, or another bird will use it. Can anyone give me advice as what's best to do to try and encourage...

Henstooth

SAD, sad news...I am so bloody ANGRY. Came home this morning to find next doors cat actually sitting on the collard doves nest..Actually sitting on it for Gods sake. God only knows how the thing got into the bush? What appears to be two white eggs are broken on the ground below the bush. PEG the robin is nowhere to be seen and I can't get in enough to see if any eggs have been left unattended. I can only sit and watch to see if PEG comes back.
I almost wanted to get the cat by it's neck and...

Henstooth

Okay. We are in business. She's in and has done some extraordinary housework. She has built the nest up and some of the material has overflowed so that it's very difficult to get any sort of view inside. I don't want to disturb her so I will have to wait for the frantic in / out activity of feeding and listen out for chick sounds to confirm that there's a family. What's made things even more interesting is that a collard dove has built a pretty naff nest in the same bush. It's just a muddle of sticks...

Henstooth

We got back from a weeks away in Cornwall. My first job was to check out the nestboxes. There she was, PEG, sitting in the nestbox, checking us out. I bet she's a bit miffed that we've come back and no doubt the boys will create noise playing football.
I will watch for a while and see if I can't get a better look inside to see if there are any eggs / chicks.

Henstooth

I was a bit worried for the last couple of days as I we had not seen PEG or her mate. I asked around about nest abandonment and discovered that the act of nest building stimulates mateing. I next thought that PEG may have been captured by the cat next door, or perhaps she was sitting on the nest. As it was, it appears she was just in and out without me seeing her. This morning we have seen her popping in and out, so all is well.
Great.

Henstooth