Blackbird nesting

Hmm... sometimes if Blackbirds think you have discovered their nest they will abandon them. But she may be back. We have had what seems to be odd activity among Blackbirds in our garden - comings and goings into various bushes and then disappearing, turning up again, making loud alarm calls for seemingly no reason. We watch them quite a lot but can never quite work out what's going on. However we have been delighted to see the babies so I guess all is well.

Ahh, thank you for that, hopefully the mother will return

Oh dear hopefully nothing has happened to her, there are lots of cats out there !!!!!

I found a blackbird nest in my rose arbour today, I know the nest has been there for a while but only saw her today, just sitting so still, which is amazing as my two dogs spend most of the day running up and down the garden barking at everything in sight.

Hope your one comes back, perhaps she went off to find some food, let us know if she comes back xx

Thank you Avor2, I will report back if there is good news

I hope your blackbird comes back, katie1, though it's worrying that she's left her eggs unattended for so long. (Unless she's been back and you haven't seen her.)
We have a wood pigeon sitting in a nest she and her partner were busy building last week in our magnolia tree. She's seen me about, but doesn't seem concerned, so fingers crossed that all will be well and she doesn't abandon the nest.

We found half a blackbird’s egg on our patio this morning. It was probably dropped by a marauding magpie but not from a nest in our garden. When we first moved here, we had them nesting in a honeysuckle hedge. The first year they abandoned the nest with the eggs still in it. The year after, they raised a brood, which left the nest at the fledgling stage and were killed by cats who left them in bits all over the garden. This happened with a second brood. It was heartbreaking, so eventually we ripped out the hedge so that they would hopefully find somewhere safer to nest elsewhere. Don’t give up on your blackbirds yet - as someone said, they may have been around all the time and you just haven’t seen them.

A Blackbird or its descendants (they only live just over 3 years) has been nesting very close to my deck for 8 years now. It knows full well I'm here, I put out seeds and replenish the water, but continues to build.

We used to have a Throstle as well, in fact it often came into my house - but Blackbirds are fierce and I think the Thrush has been scared away. I miss its song, so I am hoping as Spring comes around (late September), they will be back.

Several birds nesting close to the house this year, robin on the old phone box, cardinal in the hedge next to the window, swift in the chimney and phoebe down by the creek bridge-

A pair of blackbirds were nesting in our honeysuckle hedge and were completely unfazed by my husband and BIL building a patio around them - complete with mini digger and heavy flattening machine. They were in and out of the nest feeding their babies. We then went away for a few days and now they have gone - I hope they were big enough to have flown away.

Two kestrel fledglings in an owl box about 80 metres from my home

Chocolatepudding...what a privilege!!!
Mind you watch out nearby songbirds!!

We have just seen three kestrel fledglings in the owl box!

I now have serious kestrel envy ?!

wow - gorgeous

How lovely to have kestrels nesting! I'm afraid the mother didn't come back, but every day this week Mr and Mrs Blackbird have been busy feeding etc in my garden. Hopefully, this is the same female who abondoned her nest on Sunday and is now going to lay some more eggs. Still sad about the original nest.

Birdwatching is so absorbing. We get what I call the usual birds - Blackbirds, Sparrows, a Robin, Collared Doves and Pigeons. Also I am delighted we have Greenfinches (as apparently they have been affected by a disease in recent years). Now I am really hoping to see a Woodpecker, a Bullfinch and a Treecreeper. We are on the edge of countryside so fingers crossed. Am doing my best for them and have replaced some old-fashioned plants with a wildflower border. I have also left the back of the garden to go wild. We have dug a pond too and the birds have started to bathe in it. So our garden is becoming quite popular. Wonderful to watch.

That sounds just perfect I mm6

We have been watching 2 blackbirds (Mr and Mrs) for a few weeks katie1 and strange as it may seem it looks like they have built two nests . One in a large bay laurel in my garden and another one in a clump of Clematis on a pergola about 4 gardens up . They have been going from one to the other with clumps of moss, grass cuttings etc. from my garden ( no one else around here has a “real live” garden ) And they have built a nest in both places . I am keeping my bird table well stocked as they both seem to be very hungry .

I love watching them go about their work .

Aw, something must have disturbed the blackbird-----a magpie maybe ?
I saw a tiny finch on its back this morning, outside on the path so a cat might have got at it. It had a yellowy/lemon breast poor little thing.

I have enjoyed watching a large 'baby' blackbird in our garden. He tried to fly into a tree several times with some very clumsy failed landings. He ended up in the flower border but didn't seem to be hurt.

We have house sparrows nesting in our roof, just under the tiles. We also have a maternity colony of pipistrelles in the same part of the roof. How's that for cohabiting?

That is interesting gilly bob. I put out mealworms for the hungry blackbirds, they seem to wait for me to replenish the tray every morning, then scuttle along to take as much as they can! They also love the fat cake. I wonder if they have another nest in my garden?