Dear Readers, I took ten minutes from my revision today to pop outside. Can you see what I saw? You need to peer behind the leaves right in the middle of the photo…
How about now?
And yes, the blue tits have fledged – they are hopping about all over the garden. What innocent, vulnerable little balls of fluff they are! Their parents are pretty much losing their minds, but so far they seem to be ok. The same can’t be said for the magpies – there was a right old kerfuffle the other afternoon, and this morning there were tiny black and white feathers behind the hedge. I suspect that one of the near-fledglings fell out, and that a cat made short work of the poor little thing. Still, I suppose the blue tits will be pleased, and the parent magpies are still up by the nest so I imagine someone is still alive.
There we go! Travel well, little one. May all your parents’ hard work come to fruition in the form of at least a few adult blue tits, to grace the garden next year.
Isn’t it lovely! We watched a dear little blue tit fledge from the bird box to the ground in our garden, it spent sometime preening itself in the shade under garden table, is t nature marvellous! X
It really is, Japh. It’s full of wonders.
Thank you for sharing this precious moment in your garden.
My grandson, who only turned 2 yesterday already recognises several birds – a pigeon, blackbird, robin and a magpie to name but a few. But his favourite is a “boo tit”. 😊👍
A ‘boo tit’! That’s so adorable. It only feels like 5 minutes since he was born! Where does the time go?
Yes, tempus fugit! And he has a little brother now too (born at the end of April). So I have even more reasons to travel over to see my daughter. 😊
Our robins have fledged. We now have two youngsters hopping around and peeping, while the adults wear themselves out trying to feed them. Fortunately we have some live mealworms on offer that should help! Lovely to watch them.
Ah, they do love a live mealworm – I did this one year, I couldn’t believe how quickly they got through them!
On a darker note, those same magpies who carefully parent their own chicks will take and gobble up a bluetit fledgling in a flash. Saw it once in my garden.
For sure. On the other hand, the magpies are very energetic in driving away the cats (often at 5 a.m. so I guess it’s all a balance…)
We lost three fledglings this year. I found one on the lawn and two inside our birdbox. It’s probably the parents were inexperienced. Hopefully better luck next year.
Ah, so sorry, Gibson Square. It’s so hard to see these little creatures suffering and dead.
Good luck to them!