Blackbird's Nest Update 18/06/2016

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend and I hope none of you have been too affected my the torrential downpours last week. Lucky for us there wasn't too much and to be honest I really love thunderstorms anyway and they helped freshen the air for Hay Fever.

I posted a few photos last week about Mrs Blackbird who was busy building a nest in the Clematis in our garden. She finished her beautiful nest and I didn't think to look again until one day in the week when I was putting the tortoises into their outdoor run which is right nearby. As I stood back up I came eye to eye with Mrs Blackbird sat on her nest! She stayed totally still and I carefully moved away so as not to disturb her. She doesn't seem to mind too much anyway as I've come quite close to the nest a few times as I put the torts out and bring them in again.

The other morning when I went out I noticed she wasn't on the nest and when I peered a little closer I saw that there are four vivid blue Blackbird eggs sitting in the nest! I was worried that she'd left them but within about half hour she was back on the nest and I've noticed she's off the nest each morning for a little while. I assume it's to stretch her wings and find some food for herself.

I estimate that the eggs were laid about five days ago and I've researched that the incubation period is 13-14 days according to the RSPB website so they should hatch around next weekend some time. Fingers crossed they hatch and survive. Thankfully I've done everything in my power to deter cats from our back garden and it's very rare we get a cat in there as they're one of the biggest risks to vulnerable chicks, so hopefully the chicks will have a good chance at fledging successfully. There's plenty of worms and insects in our garden for Mrs Blackbird to feed them anyway, so here's hoping they all hatch successfully.

I managed to carefully get a photo of the eggs in the nest the other day and wanted to share it with you. More updates to come soon; as you can probably tell I'm quite excited about having wildlife in our garden, that was my main aim :-)

Em x