Busy Birds

 Before the rain set in the birds were very busy in the garden.

 

The blue tits started building in a box on the shed wall in the middle of February and have been adding to it in fits and starts depending on the weather. A couple of weeks ago a wren started building a nest in the ivy just feet away from the blue tit box.

We’ve had 3 robins in the garden – a pair and a spare male judging by the display and strutting going on. The pair are building in a neighbouring garden. The house sparrows are thinking about it, not sure where they are going to nest. The blackbirds are well on the way with at least one of the three pairs feeding young. The goldfinches and linnets are still coming in to feed on the sunflower seeds.

 

Every so often the male blue tit gets very territorial and will have a go at anything in the vicinity of the box. It chases the wren, which hides in the bushes and then returns later and starts building again with such determination. The house sparrows are not tolerated anywhere near the box in case they try to take it over, though the hole should be too small. Even the robins, finches and dunnocks get chased at times.

 

It will be interesting to see how things progress over the coming weeks.