welcome to birdland

a few weeks ago, at the start of march, a thrush blackbird started building a nest on our window sill. after a week or so, and over a four-day period, she laid four eggs. at the time of writing this introduction, the first of these eggs had hatched

find out more in the about section

it's over

if i'd paid more attention to the rspb site i wouldn't be so disheartened

our chicks have flown - with only limited success. when i got up yesterday, the nest was empty save one of the chicks and his unborn brother. i couldn't spot the other two but i assumed they were off getting flying lessons from their dad

i came home at lunchtime yesterday and found the last chick had gone. at first it seemed that the last little fellow had joined his siblings in the garden, however, i soon spotted this. it seems that his initial flutter down from my windowsill didn't go too well.

whilst i was out in the garden, i met my neighbour, who had found one of the other chicks in his bedroom. it seems that his cat had brought it in to play with. the chick was still alive and only slightly hurt (some damaged feathers) so we put him back in the nest, out of harms way, and i shooed the neighbourhood cats

the chick stayed in the nest all afternoon, occasionally being visited by one of his parents. their visits were brief, and as i was watching over the web, i couldn't really tell if they were feeding him or not

by the time i got home that evening, he too had gone

so, in summary, of our four chicks:
- one is unhatched and safe in his egg
- one is dead (and buried, thanks to katy)
- one was slightly mauled, rescued and is now unaccounted for
- one is just unaccounted for

i am an optimistic person and i'm happy in the knowledge that two of the little guys made it


nb: there are at least five cats in our garden

nothing to report

the chicks are still eating worms and sleeping

there are couple of new images in the gallery

highcam now in action

thanks to the resourceful katy, the highcam is now in action

if you are watching this site for any length of time, and fancy a plan/elevation view, i recommend that you use the 'both cams' view

time for an update

it's been a little while since i last updated the site

the last egg is definately a non-starter. i'm relieved to report that despite the grizzly suggestions i have received, it has not yet been eaten, but instead is being used rather cutely as a pillow/bean-bag type item by the lazy chicks

also, there has been a huge and apparent growth spurt going on - complimented by some fast-track feather growing. the chicks aren't nearly as ugly as they were only a few days ago, and soon will be fully feathered. see the gallery

at some point during the next week or so, the chicks will be making their first attempts at flight. katy has commented on the growing congregation of cats taking an interest in our nest. we are already one chick down (the egg), so i'm hoping that the rest will make it through the challenging days ahead

the harsh lessons that nature sometimes chooses to teach us

it's not looking good for the fourth egg

more than one commentator has suggested that there will be no chick hatching here

at least it adds a new aspect to our observation - will the egg be removed or will it remain as some kind of sick talisman serving only to remind the three chicks of their own mortality?

bad gamble on the thrush vs blackbird debate

dad has turned up

he's only a chuffing blackbird. bugger.

help!

if you are watching the nestcam and see something cool that should be in the gallery, please take a copy of the picture (by right-clicking etc) and send it to me using the 'contact' link

thank you!

it's a hat-trick!

the third one came at about six fifteen this evening

only one more to go...

and another

this wee fella hatched very early this morning

congratulations! it's a ... thing

the first of the four eggs hatched this afternoon

see more pics in the gallery