Tuesday 22 May 2012

The Great Escape

Or how the best laid plans don't always work.


With the gorgeous weather we've had today, I decided to sit out on the lawn with my dog, Joey. I positioned my chair so that I could watch the blue tits, but was far enough away from the nestbox so as not to disturb them. I soon noticed that something wasn't right again. They were going to the box but not feeding anything, just like last Sunday. On that occasion, I found a small dead baby blue tit under the nestbox that night.

I presumed that all the chicks would be of the same size, and not ready to leave the nest yet. Wrong. As we were sat there on the lawn, a fully fledged young blue tit tumbled out of the flower border and landed on the lawn. I grabbed hold of Joey and took him indoors. Then I decided to observe a while from the kitchen window. It soon became clear that the youngsters were all over the place at ground level. Think they had left the nest a little bit too soon, probably because of the warm sunshine blazing onto the nestbox.

And when I did venture outside again, I found the little chap above, had fallen into a large trug. He was much smaller than his siblings, and unable to get out of the trug. So I laid the trug on its side, and he scrambled out into the undergrowth. Unfortunately, his parents couldn't find him. They kept flying to the trug and then to the nestbox.

So I went back outside, and found him huddled in the plants where I'd left him. As his parents had been looking for him in the nestbox, I reluctantly decided to return him there. Normally young birds are best left for the parents to find them, but this one wasn't safe where he was. His parents found him in the box, but he came out again later, and I decided to leave him this time.

I'm now unable to water my greenhouse plants or mow the lawn, as the blue tits are still feeding their young on the ground. Hopefully, by tomorrow, the youngsters will have scrambled up into the shrubs, and relative safety.

9 comments:

  1. What a lucky bird that he has you to look out for him. I have two bird houses with nests in them and I just hope the babies don't fledge while my dogs are outside. I'm keeping a close eye on the houses. Watching baby birds is more fun than mowing, anyway. :o)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The youngsters were still at ground level this morning, so having to be very careful where I walk.

      Delete
  2. I've only discovered magpies nesting on my property so far. Think I would rather have blue tits. The magpies are huge birds that seem to grow extremely quickly, within a few weeks they seem to become 'teenagers'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our neighbour used to have a magpie's nest every year. Fortunately, they abandoned it this year after an attack from crows.

      Delete
  3. WOW! Thank goodness you were on hand to save the day. Well done xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Found one in the apple tree this morning. At least it's a bit safer than in the flower bed or on the lawn. They can't fly yet but they're getting better at hopping around.

      Delete
  4. It looks so small and vulnerable and almost not ready to leave the nest but as it has left twice now it obviously is ready :-) What an eventful day you had! I always feel anxious when I see and hear newly emerged fledglings hiding around the garden especially as there are neighbourhood cats around quite often :-(

    I do hope they survive, such a cute photo of the one in the trug. What a blessing you found it there, I'm sure it would have had great difficulty getting out on its own!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It still looks very small, but at least its parents are still feeding it.

      Delete
  5. I didn't realise it was such a responsibility having young fledglings around - they wouldn't stand a chance in my garden with the neighbours pesky cat on the lookout all the time.

    ReplyDelete