Baby Birds

Remember how in this post I described how a pair of blackbirds had nested in our window-box? Well at last I can update you on their progress.Three of the four eggs hatched into scraggy, blind and naked chicks that looked no bigger than a couple of centemetres long. Mother blackbird kept them warm and safe by sitting on them till she decided they were big enough, at which point she was able to leave the nest for more than a few seconds at a time, and I was able to snatch these pictures. She wasn’t really bothered by me at all, I’d be working at the kitchen table, she’d be brooding the chicks, we were just a couple of inches away from each other. The chicks were completely used to me too, the male however diddn’t like the look of me at all and muttered to himself crossly whenever he caught a glimpse of me. The chicks grew at a phenomenal rate and before long they were far too big for the nest, and spent a lot of time sitting on the edge, scratching, preening and stretching. I imagine it was very hot and itchy in the nest once they got so big.

They are well and truly wedged in here…

This little fluffy butt is completely squashing his siblings, no wonder they were in a hurry to leave! Yes, sadly they all flew the nest this weekend over the space of a couple of days. I actually saw the biggest one (pictured above) fledge while I was eating my breakfast, it just did a kamikaze dive straight out of the nest, hit the wall opposite, and plummeted flailing into the bushes below. I was very anxious about the little guy, but baby birds are tougher than they look and he was actually fine. Another one did the big jump while we were out on the town, and the final chick made a break for freedom on Sunday morning. I thought I would never see them again, but they are now living in thick undergrowth at the bottom of the garden. Baby blackbirds fly no better than I do when they leave the nest, so they are still dependant on their parents for food and protection until their adult plumage has grown and they are strong enough to look after themselves. it seems very harsh and completely crazy – apparently mortality rates are very high. However I’m hoping that our blackbirds will reach maturity, and I’ll keep eagerly watching them in our garden till they’ve grown.

It’s spring!!!

Leaning against a farmyard gate during a weekend stroll, we were admiring a happy pig in his mud wallow when the farmer appeared from an outbuilding and asked if we would like to see the lambs. Thinking he would just lead us to another field where his sheep would be grazing, we diddn’t know what a treat we had in store!

He led us into the lambing pen where expectant mothers, new mums and their newborns are kept. Laying with their mothers on a thick bed of straw we saw lambs only a few hours old.

This lady had twins the previous night…

This little one was only born a couple of hours before I took the picture. Shall we take a closer look?

But most precious of all was this little one. What we diddn’t know when the farmer appeared and invited us in was that a little lamb had just been born. The mother had a difficult time, and the farmer had to help her out. He’d just stepped out of the lambing pen when he saw us and invited us in. I think he was very releived and proud and wanted to show off mother and baby. Without his help they might not have made it.

It was very moving to see this tiny scrap of life being gently nuzzled by its mother. It was six minutes old.