I have been really pleased with my blackbird nest cam as I have been getting lovely views of the nest. The nest is also low enough for me to pop the camera in when the parents leave, meaning I can get close-up pictures of the chicks.
Today, I was watching the nest on my live cameras and could see that the nest seemed to be sliding forward and, at one point it was almost at 45 degrees, with the chicks looking in danger of falling out. I went outside to have a closer look. The nest is built on the edge of the diagonal brace on my garage port, but with 5 chicks and the male and the female alighting on the nest lip, it was coming away and was in danger of falling off. The chicks are growing so quickly…
I was in a dilemma…. I did not want to do anything to jeopardise the nest and stop them feeding these five chicks, but I was pretty certain that if I left the nest, it would fall off. I considered building a platform on the end of a post and then ‘propping’ the nest up from underneath, but it was going to be difficult to secure it.
I decided to try to make a hammock type arrangement and create a sling that I could tie under the nest to secure it. Cutting a sleeve off of an old green fleece that I used for decorating, I tied a long string to each end. I then tied one end to the drain pipe to the left of the nest. I carefully positioned the sleeve ‘sling’ under the nest and then tied the other end up inside the garage. The nest now sits in the sling and, hopefully, it will now be safe. The nest does look rather shallow though and the chicks look very vulnerable, especially when they rear up to receive food!
I have done all I can now and I just hope this family continue to do well. It is such a battle to get to fledge and then through to adulthood!
My jackdaws are doing well and they will fledge this week. I nipped up with the camera today to get another picture. Their wing feathers are fully though now and tail ones almost there.
The side box chicks and the Lane box chicks seem to be thriving too. With the three large oaks near me in full leaf, there seem to be an abundance of caterpillars, so hopefully we will have some more successful families.
I had a quick go at photographing the blue tits in the lane nest box as the box is level with my hall and sitting room window! The shady aspect means I could not get the shutter speed as high as I would have liked, but I got a couple of shots I was quite pleased with. I also got an awful lot of blurred images, bird just out of shot or an empty hole!! They are SO quick!
This time next week, the blue tits in the lane box and the jackdaws will have gone and started their lives in my patch. I love this season… but it is all over so quickly!