LezH
Well-known member
Having just returned from a 'mixed-bag break' down (or perhaps that should read 'breakdown') in West Sussex, where most things that could go wrong did just that - though at least the weather was good - I thought I'd try posting a photo of our little family in the making. A pair of blue tits have decided to brave my carpentry and set up house. I'm pleased to report that, unlike myself after crouching at the curtain for endless hours watching them, they seem in great shape. I, on the other hand, look like Max Wall but I expect I'll straighten up eventually. The black tights are just a fun thing...
What was particularly rewarding about the nest (and the three eggs it contained by the first day of my Easter break - one-and-a-bit visible in the photo), was seeing how my previous autumn laziness, leaving masses of fading lobelia hanging like straw wigs on their troughs and pots 'for the birds', had been completely vindicated. As you can see in the photos, quite a lot of the stuff has been used in the construction. I would have thought the birds could have used it all and not have left quite so much for me to pull out this Spring, but you can't have everything. Next year I'll supervise!
Even more gratifying was the sight of Japanese Akita hair being used as a liner and insulation. My old boy Franklin could moult for England (or Japan) and I often wonder if there will be a dog left at the end of the process. In late February I compressed a carrier-bag load of his hair into the coconut shell that hangs in the cherry tree and I would imagine there will be some pretty hot chicks (can't wait!) in a few weeks' time. Akita hair is wonderfully warm and, if the fledgelings grow up smelling ever-so-slightly of a large powerful canine, it might give a marauding cat just enough to think about to mean the birds get an extra micro-second to escape. I like to think so anyway...
By the time I returned to London last Tuesday week, there were eight tiny white and slightly translucent eggs with pretty brown speckles like a dusting of Easter-chocolate. Much too small for an omlette so I left them there.
My next-door neighbour, with utter selfishness, has gone on holiday and had the cheek to take her digital camera with her, so you'll have to take my word for the extra five eggs.
By the time I get back this weekend, car permitting, I expect to be deafened by the noise of demand feeding.
Lez
What was particularly rewarding about the nest (and the three eggs it contained by the first day of my Easter break - one-and-a-bit visible in the photo), was seeing how my previous autumn laziness, leaving masses of fading lobelia hanging like straw wigs on their troughs and pots 'for the birds', had been completely vindicated. As you can see in the photos, quite a lot of the stuff has been used in the construction. I would have thought the birds could have used it all and not have left quite so much for me to pull out this Spring, but you can't have everything. Next year I'll supervise!
Even more gratifying was the sight of Japanese Akita hair being used as a liner and insulation. My old boy Franklin could moult for England (or Japan) and I often wonder if there will be a dog left at the end of the process. In late February I compressed a carrier-bag load of his hair into the coconut shell that hangs in the cherry tree and I would imagine there will be some pretty hot chicks (can't wait!) in a few weeks' time. Akita hair is wonderfully warm and, if the fledgelings grow up smelling ever-so-slightly of a large powerful canine, it might give a marauding cat just enough to think about to mean the birds get an extra micro-second to escape. I like to think so anyway...
By the time I returned to London last Tuesday week, there were eight tiny white and slightly translucent eggs with pretty brown speckles like a dusting of Easter-chocolate. Much too small for an omlette so I left them there.
My next-door neighbour, with utter selfishness, has gone on holiday and had the cheek to take her digital camera with her, so you'll have to take my word for the extra five eggs.
By the time I get back this weekend, car permitting, I expect to be deafened by the noise of demand feeding.
Lez