It has been quite a week for hatching in my patch! On the 29th, the female was paying a lot of attention to her eggs and I saw the first tiny head rear up! This female has five eggs but I have not seen how many have hatched yet, as it is quite difficult to see. The nest is very well protected and hidden by a lot of ivy, which is great for the blackbird, but means the images on my live camera are a little dark as the cam tends to switch to IR. I would much rather it that way, though, if it means them successfully raising their family. Here is a clip where you just get a glimpse of the tiny new lives!!
Today, when I checked my live cameras first thing in the morning, I could see that the eggs had started hatching in the Hub nest box. This female had been fairly haphazard in her incubation, so I was unsure when these eggs would hatch. The view is really good in this nest box as the camera is on the side and there are lights in there. I am going to really enjoy watching this family grow up!! Here is a clip showing the eggs beginning to hatch and the female eating the eggs shell. This can provide important nutrients and also means there are no tell-tale sign outside a nest that young may be present.
Then this afternoon, the chicks also started hatching in the side nest box! I will capture some clips of them later on!
My jackdaw chicks are growing fast and I nipped up the ladder to take a quick picture of them. Their wing feathers are almost all through now and I think they will fledge before next weekend. ..
Finally, I had a phone call today from Midlands Today. If all goes according to plan, they want to film LIVE here in my patch next Friday! That would be a new experience… I have done a few things now on TV, but always recorded. They will do a live link to my patch at 6.30pm so come and set up here in the afternoon. David Gregory, the Science correspondent has been here twice before, so I know it will be fine, as he is great and very easy to chat to. It is all very exciting and I hope the weather is like it is today, as it has been gorgeous and the garden looks so much better in the sunshine! I think my piece on Springwatch will go out in the final week, which will be whilst I am at Gardeners’ World Live…hopefully it will pull some people onto my stand!
For my new followers, here are the two clips from David’s last two visits here… one last Spring and one in the depths of winter when we were under a foot of snow!!