More Blackbirds and Leaf Cutter Bees

The blackbirds are still collecting food for their juvenile but all seems a lot peaceful now.

Blackbirds often fledge about 36 hours before they can fly which means they are vulnerable to predators and the parents have a hard job feeding them. Its not that surprising that the blackbird chicks fledge early as their is not really a great deal of room in the nest. If you see a female blackbird on the nest the head and chest stick out one end and the tail sticks out the other.
(Picture from a book I wrote on blackbirds)

The chicks usually spend 2 weeks in the nest from hatching and may be fed by the parents for another three weeks before totally dependant. This will partly depend on the parents who may be ready to try for another clutch. Blackbirds may have 2, 3 or more clutches a year which is one of the reasons they are so successful. Blue tits, for example, have only one clutch and if that fails, that's it until next year. The blackbirds still mob our cat occasionally and chase of any rival blackbirds but by mid morning all was quite. Its not clear if this is the only chick they successfully reared or if there are others that managed to stay out of trouble better.

While having lunch on the decking I noticed a leaf cutter bee in one of the flower pots (with a small oak tree).

It was digging a a tunnel, pushing the soil out of the tunnel with its jaws.

About 10 minutes later the leaf cutter bee returned with a section of leaf it had cut from a nearby plant. (See entry 30th May 2007, of bees cutting leaf).

This solitary bee makes its nest with pieces of leaves, creating individual cells and lays an egg in each. (See may 3rd 2009 entry re an old leaf cutter bee nest) The bee went too and fro several times working on its nest before I had to go and work.

Late evening, and our cat discovered that the blackbird chick was at the back of our neighbours garden. The male blackbird started mobbing behaviour which attracted our attention.

It took a lot of coaxing to get her away and in the end resorted to bribing her with ham. I managed to lead her away by throwing bits of ham on the ground. The last bit I threw into our conservatory. She went through the door and I quickly shut in behind her. She gave me the most filthy look and then deliberately jumped up into my chair and looked at me as if to say, "don't even think about it".

Blackbird saga continues

I had breakfast on the decking as usual and the blackbirds were still busy feeding its young.

I tried to ignore the warning calls from the adults. Mid morning the commotion took on a very frantic edge so I went to check out what was happening. Out cat was laying in the shade down the side of the house, next to the fence. Unknown to our cat, the blackbird fledgling was the other side of the fence. The blackbird parents were obviously distressed by this.

The male blackbird was very vocal but our cat tried to ignore them.

The blackbirds were getting more and more distressed as the cat was not responding to their attempts to dive her away. Eventually I shooed our cat away to find another place to sit in the shade

The parents continued to collect food into the evening.

The swifts are now forming a large flock late evening. I estimate about 35 swifts.

Blackbird fledging and defence

I had been watching the blackbirds collecting food for a probable brood over the last few days. My suspicions were that the nest was in the far boundary hedge of our neighbours garden. This morning they seemed very agitated.

When the weather is sunny, like today I like to start the day by having breakfast on the decking in the back corner of our garden. Both the male and female blackbird were in our neighbours Eucalyptus tree next to our fence.

While they did not seem to worry about my presence, other than giving me the occasional look, they directed a lot of attention into our neighbours garden. The male making the warning rattle "chink chink"call while the female made a more subtle "chock chock" sound which appeared to be directed at her young. My thoughts were that they had at least one youngster in the garden. Young blackbirds often fledged a day or more earlier than they can actually fly. Not too surprising if you have ever seen a female on the nest. Her body just about fits in the nest and the head and tail stick over the edge. The young blackbirds literally out grow the nest.

This went on for much of the morning. Mid morning the warning calls escalated. A magpie had flown into the tree. Both birds directed warning calls and agitated wing and tail flicking towards the magpie. The male physically mobbed the magpie until it flew away landing in trees a few gardens away.

However the male continued to mob the magpie until it flew away.

All day the adults collected food. Our at came across the garden and the birds rattled their warning at her. Our cat, too hot and bothered to take noticed carried on and plonked herself down in the shade. The male came right across the roof and shouted at our cat, whom responded by cleaning herself.

After about 5 minutes the male returned to our neighbours garden. Our neighbour found the location of the bird when hey came back from work. It was behind their coal bunker.

We kept our cat in over night as that would be when it was most vulnerable.

The adults continued collecting food until it was too dark.

Nesting sparrows and opportunistic herring gull

On the way to a meeting yesterday I got stuck on Ford Rail Station because of delays.

I noticed a lot of sparrow activity and realised that they were nesting in the apex. There seemed to be several nests.

As I waited I noticed a flock of long tailed tits in the bushes across the track on the other side of the platform. There were also great tits and several sparrows and starlings. As I watched a sparrow flew straight towards me chasing a small butterfly or day moth (couldn't really tell which). The butterfly/moth flew in a corkscrew avoidance flight and pretty soon there were three sparrows trying to catch their intended prey. The moth headed off to my right and back across the track and appeared to make it safely into the bushes. My guess is that it might have been a moth as I have seen such avoidance flying before.

On the way back at Littlehampton Station I watched a herring gull checking out a rubbish bag on the platform.

The bag had been put there by the chap cleaning the train which had just arrived.

It looked like it managed to find an old tea bag but nothing else.

Afterwards it moved over to a bucket of water and had a drink before flying off, no doubt to try its luck elsewhere.

This evening I was treated to another spectacular air display courtesy of the swifts that nest in our neighbours roof. As our bungalow is slightly up hill and our garden is higher than our neighbours they scream low across our garden, the lowest bird often about head height.

Animal rescue part 2 great tit and Slow worm

I went out to check on the juvenile great tit first thing and found it had got out of the box and was sitting on one of my old trainers.

I carefully picked it up in cupped hands and walked towards the door hoping to get bird back up in the tree where it would be safer. As I got to the door the bird flew from my hands and onto the greenhouse roof.

After struggling about it managed to get a grip of a step of the passion flower.

After a while it moved to the corner of the green house and flew across to the flint wall.

After a couple of minutes it flew away low across the neighbours garden and disappeared and was the last time I saw it.

Later, I noticed a very water logged red tailed bee on a Lily pad in the pond.

I carefully used a grass stem to lift him out of the pond. I put the bee on the pond edge where it would hopefully dry without getting dirt stuck to it. I carefully lifted one of the wings which was stuck to its body because it was wet. The bee disappeared so I presume it dried out and flew away.

Later in the day our cat was calling at the door. Laying on the ground was a slow worm, minus its tail and the tail wriggling a short way away. I carefully picked up the slow worm and put it in a box and waited for the cat to forget about it.

I checked it over and it seemed to only have very minor injuries. People often mistake slow works for snakes but they are actually leg-less lizards. They feed on ivertebrates inlcuding small slugs. They are a beautiful shiny copper in colouration.

I let the slow worm go on the rockery a while later.

By that time, black ants had already food the tail and began their work of scavenging. I moved the tail to the side of the garden.

Blue damselflies and animal rescue part 1

I noticed the first of the blue tail damselflies emerge from the pond today. The blue damselflies always emerge from our pond later than the large red damselflies.

We woke in the night to a commotion outside. When we investigated we discovered our cat with a baby bird. I managed to get the bird away and after checking it over realised it was still alive. It looked like a juvenile great tit, possibly one of the family that had been visiting the garden a few days ago. Maybe our cat had come across it roosting in the tree. I put it in a cardboard box with some bedding and put it in the shed before going back to bed. Dark and quite are what the bird needed if it was going to survive. Many die of shock.

speckled wood

I noticed this Speckled wood butterfly which appeared to be drinking from the pond. I have seen butterflies gathered around a puddle and also feeding from over-ripe fruit.