Whilst walking the dogs around the cow field this morning we spied what looked like a nest in the corner of one of the empty hay racks in the shelter. Looking more closely we spied a tail and realized we did indeed have a blackbird nesting there. Later we went back and managed to get a picture of the eggs as the bird was off the nest, no doubt off somewhere, fueling up for the night!!! And what an amazing nest it is, so intricately built but even more impressive is how the nest was started when the holes of the rack are so large. There must have been quite a balancing act going on at first, although judging by the amount of moss and twigs underneath, a lot must have fallen through before the blackbird really got the hang of it.
We will keep an eye on the nest and hope to catch a few pictures of the fledglings growing up!!
And as a total contrast we also found these other eggs today, also laid in a hay rack, but thus time a full one!!! How sensible of the bird in question, we think our Exchequer Leghorn. They’re not daft!!!