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We live in Dorset. A couple of weeks ago, we had a wagtail nest in the workings of the arm of one of our mini-diggers in the barn. My husband needed to use it so he carefully moved it to the seat of an old tractor in the barn and the mum is sitting on the nest in the new position very happily. They're quite used to the machinery though. A couple of years ago they made a nest in a tractor cab & the chicks went for a 10 mile journey in the tractor! The mum carried on feeding them when they got back and they fledged the nest a while later absolutely fine!

I wish you could see this blackbird that has built her nest in my camelia about a foot from the kitchen window. I have a superb view! She has been sitting there for nearly two weeks now so expecting chicks to hatch any day now!

I don't know if this counts, but I have free-range bantams and they have nested in really strange places like the roof of the stables, 4 to a nest- very interesting when they hatch and there are 4 mums trying to steal all the chicks- and, once, in a paint tin in the garage! They can be very inventive

We live in a converted barn in West Sussex and have a blue tit nest in the high eaves.
Yesterday morning I found a chick in my kitchen, then four more in my boiler cupboard. All had fallen out of the nest and down through the lining of the barn and somehow ended up in my kitchen cupboard. This morning there was another chick in the cupboard!
We have made them a "nestbox" out of plant pots and tupperware. In the morning it sits safely on top of the calor gas bottles outside the kitchen door and when the sun moves round I move them to under an acer in a pot in the shade. The parents are doing a wonderful job feeding them and also feeding the remaining chicks left in the original nest in the eaves.
Their new home is very Heath Robinson, but they seem happy and safe in it.

Got a pair of woodpigeons nesting in the protection of a three way set of traffic lights.

In Hull Road Park in York there is an overturned toy car which has been abandoned in the water. In this a very imaginative moorhen has built a nest. Have tried to upload a photo to the website so hopefully it will have worked! As far as I know there are no chicks yet but will keep going back and checking!

As a follow up to yesterday's note I posted about the blue tit chicks dropping into my kitchen cupboard from their nest in the roof of our barn, two more blue tits have plopped down into my boiler cupboard here in West Sussex. We have put these with their siblings in the home made tupperware nestbox on top of the calor gas bottles, where the parents now have 7 chicks gathered together.
I wonder if there are any more in the nest in the eaves.
I wish I knew how old they are and when they are due to fledge. They have all their coloured feathers and look a lot older than those on the SpringWatch webcam.

Just across from us on the house at the back there are great tits nesting in a down pipe which comes out from the toilet, there is a metal grid type thing to stop things going down the pipe but hasn't deterred the birds, must be kinda smelly under that nest as none of the fumes from the toilet water will be escaping. Only downside is I don't have a camera with a good zoom to take photos.

Last spring 2011, I had a 'bald headed' Great Tit visiting my garden to enjoy a meal from the bird table. This year I have a 'bald headed' Robin visiting and looking for food.
I've lived at my house for 25 years and never before seen bald birds. Is there a reason for their baldness? Both birds look perfectly normal otherwise, just as if they have large overcoats on, making their heads look too small!

We have a beautiful robin nesting in the centre of our hanging basket. We think there are four possibly five eggs (I have a great picture) and mum has been sitting on them since last Wednesday. She seems to have cocooned herself and is almost invisible, we cannot wait for them to hatch, I'll keep you posted!

For the past 6 years I have had a nest box with a camera and have had so much pleasure watching Blue Tits build their tidy nests, hatch and rear their chicks. I have been fortunate enough to have Blue Tits nesting for 5 out of 6 years. The one year that I didn't have any Blue Tits was because a Woodpecker pecked it's way into the nest and made the hole bigger leaving it open to the Sparrows (who did nest but the nest was so messy I couldn't see what was happening). This year the Blue Tit has laid 11 eggs. I didn't think that they would all survive but they have. There are 11 healthy looking chicks fully feathered and starting to peep out of the nest box (although mum seems to keep them in order and moves them away from the hole). I am amazed at how hard mum and dad have had to work feeding and keeping the nest clean. Amazing.

Hi Martin,

I have 8 - 10 Housemartins nesting in our house eaves, but they are having great problems finishing the nests as a greater spotted woodpecker comes along and pecks the nests down, the martins mob the woodpecker but he just carries on wrecking the nests.Do you think the GSW is looking for insects ,whats you views?

Nic.

I was both delighted and concerned to discover yesterday that a plucky (or perhaps foolish) wren has set up residence in a play structure at Thetford Forest visitor centre (one shaped like a woodpecker). It is atop one of the rear supports and within easy reach of little fingers which may accidentally (while clambering) or deliberately disturb the nest and the chicks. I counted two (pictures in the flickr photostream). The parent is trying to find peaceful breaks in the activities to make it to the nest to feed the young. Is there anything that can be done to safeguard the nest (I realise that most safeguards might just create more curiosity amongst the children). I wondered if at the very least, that opportune nesting place might be closed off before the breeding season next year and perhaps be replaced with suitable nest boxes for the wren in proximity but with safer locations?

The trebuchet at Warwick castle has blue tits in so I've been told! This could be old news though

My husband has built a few bee hotels made of short lengths of bamboo.
Bees or wasps, can't get too close, are going into the holes all the time, spending a great deal of time in them, and slowly sealing them up.
What are they sealing in, anybody?

We were just about to empty the contents of the strawberry planter, which hangs on the side of our shed, when we saw a robin looking out at us. When she left the planter we could see she had made a nest and two baby robins had just hatched.
Its fascinating to see the parents flying back and forth into the palnter which is only just open enough for them to get in.

A pair of Blue tits are nesting under the bench inside a birding hide near my home in Northumberland. Thats what I call close views!

Whilst sitting in the staffroom at Whatfield Primary School in Suffolk I noticed a lot of activity around a nest box mounted on the wall outside....bumblebees! Nesting in a birdbox! Never seen this before, I took some video if your interested?

We have great tits nesting in an upturned terracotta flower pot just a metre away from our back door. They seem to have been feeding them for a couple of weeks or more!!! Just hoping they will be able to get out ok.

Oh Martin, what have you done to your hair???
Such a shame!!!

It has taken years to find the right place for our bird box. The bird box has been put all over the garden, but was finally placed on the fence right next to our house, under a bench. Amazingly, we now have our first family of bluetits! The little darlings are chirping all day, popping their heads out the bird box hole with gaping mouths. The parents are fine with us sitting on the bench underneath the bird box too as they fly to and fro.

i spoted a bird nesting in the top of a sun parasol this weekend i have a picture (not very good) but not sure how to upload it . Also hoping to get a later brood of wrens back to our next box have seen them pottering back and forth from the box

We live in north Devon on a caravan park, and outside the bar entrance is a cigarette
Disposal box, and for the fourth year blue tits have decided to nest. All day today they have been busy emptying all cigarette stubs, we have to put a sign up to stop it bring used. Very strange, carolannhill

I would like to tell you about a very "urban" thrush family which has nested in a tree in the middle of a very busy road in Leeds.
We are have been watching adults thrush sitting for a number of weeks and then at the end of the week before last 3 baby birds appeared. Parents are doing a grand job and they have been on the tree branch today.
Nothing unusual about this - well no but the tree is in Harehills Lane, Leeds near the junction with the busy York Road , one of our office windows overlooks the nest (2nd floor) so we have a good view. The other unusual thing is that as she is an urban bird shes used a bit of old plastic to wrap around her nest! May have worked to their advantages when it was wet and cold - not too sure now its 30 degree C !
I would love to show you a photo but dirty windows and Iphones dont go.
We are trying to offer meal worms but again because its Leeds they arent too sure of this offer! Fingers crossed for success - from Barbara and fellow cardiac nurse specialists from Leeds x

A pair of Blue Tits have taken over a House Martins nest in the eves of our house. The House Martins started building another nest next to it but seem to have given up. It looked like there was a bit of an argument going on at one point!

We have a Robins nest in the ivy on the side of the house. Yesterday, the last of the chicks flew the nest but couldn't fly and went straight to the floor; seemingly unharmed. We left it for a while, it's mother returned once and the chick disappeared. A few hours later my dog found it hiding behind the bin and its mother was no where to be seen - it still couldn't fly. We decided to put it back in its nest, where it chirped a way, it's mother flew by a few times but didn't go to the nest. The chick then attempted to fly out of the nest again but went straight to the ground, this time injuring its self. It was very panicked and kept flapping about on the ground but couldn't even stand anymore. We took it to a local vet where they took it off us and said they would nurse it and contact us with any news. We are yet to hear of them, is no news good news?

Last week my husband and I discovered that we have a Great Tit pair nesting in the top of our old lead water pump that pours water into a half barrel in our back garden. My husband was going to box in base of the pump but when he went to look at the pump and took the fancy ridge tile that sits on the top of the pump off, a Great Tit flew out and there was two eggs. He quickly replaced the tile and we have been quietly watching the pair coming in and out. He has put a top over the barrel so the flegdlings won't drowned on their maiden flight. We don't think the eggs have hatched yet - we have Blue Tits in our nest box and their chicks are very noisy. So fingers crossed.

Today i saw a squirrel taking its young from its nest and moving them to another area, could you please tell me why ?. Thank you

We found a birds nest in a hollow of a tree with about 14 eggs (slightly bigger than a hens egg) they are cream coloured with brown speckles. We didn't touch the nest at all, but it looked like it was abandoned. There was quite a lot of white feathers in and outside the nest. Someone told us that a Gooseander might have nested there before, but also we think it could be a barn owls nest. Any clues as to what the nest might be ?

Spring Watch team. We have a red-legged partridge sitting on 16 eggs in our herb garden. The eggs are due to hatch around about the 11 June (give or take a few days). We only have a small garden, with no gaps for the chicks to get out of the garden other than through a door leading to the garage, which has a high step in to the garage. We are also surrounded by CATS! Any suggestions on how we get the chicks out into the Norfolk countryside one hatched.

we have had magpies nesting here for the last three years or so, each year they have had two lot of chicks and each year they have lost three out of four, crows and falling from nest. This year they built their nest with a lid and sides to it with an entrance and exit and have successfuly rared thier first lot of chicks that are flying well. I have never seen a magpies nest like this before is it common?

Get a life Libby !!!

We have a normal nest box and a pair of blue tits made their nest we had 7 eggs hatch and that was about 2 weeks ago - they were all doing well and then last week day by day we had a chick die, would like to know why or if any one else has had this happen? All 7 have died.

I went to get a tin of larger from the box ontop of the fridge in the garage and found what we think is a robin's nest!!

we have a wrens nest in a hanging basket directly by our front door it has 4 chicks that have only just hatched it would be very easy to photograph as is also under cover of the porch roof also a badgers set with young in another corner of the garden
Kind regards
David (Stalbans)

A nest box in our garden is occupied by a pair of Great Tits busily going back and forth feeding their young and removing poo sacks. During the past two days we have seen a Robin visiting the same nest box with insects in its beak. It will sometimes sit at the entrance, but will also go inside for about 15 to 20 seconds and then exit. The parent Great Tits will hold back when the Robin is present but otherwise are not perturbed. What’s going on?



Robin Brereton

Saw a nest on top of a bird box, on staying back and waiting patiently it turned out to be a blackbirds nest.

Thanks for a Fantastic show. Great Tits have just fledged from a nest box in our garden. But it looks like the parents keep coming back to the box. Should i take out the old nest just in case they want to lay another clutch. From Steve Simmons Thundersley, Essex.

last year we had a pair of robins nesting in a crane bag in our out-building and I can safely say a number of chicks were hatched and this year we have possibly the same pair of robins nesting on a work bench/table in the out-buliding. It's a shame really seeing as we have a nest box which never get's used attached to the out-building. A wren also built a nest on top of a toll box about a foot off the ground last year.

Hi,
In my family garden we have a family of robins . Mum and dad have decided that it would be a good place to build their nest in one of my mums herb pots .. very strange I thought. I just wanted to know a little more information about robin families, for example how long will it be before the babies leave the nest and is there anything I can do to make mum and dads life any easier? Thanks :) .

@40 Try these webpage for a starting point on Robins.





Hope they help
Coo

We are having a great time this year! I had a wild life camera for Christmas, and have put it on the badger sett in our garden. We have footage of adults digging out/bringing in new bedding/ mating/playing/grooming each other, and the babies. Also 2 of them devouring a rabbit.

Our pond has a grass snake or two catching frogs. Not pleasant to see though!

A Blue tit is using a House martins nest which is in the middle of the others! The Martins don't seem bothered.

I have some bees nesting in a bird box in the garden. Know nothing about them need advice as its a very active hive. Help

We live in Twickenham and appear to have bees nesting in our bird box. Our neighbour made the box which sits on top of the fence, it's semi detached so has a compartment for each of our gardens. We have noticed two bees continually guarding the small hole which is the entrance although we have not seen other bees entering. unfortunately we cannot see inside as the box is sealed. We would like to know what sort of bees they are and whether this is normal.

We also have Blue Tits in our front garden who keep flying against the window, presumably because they can see themselves and think its another bird encroaching on their territory!

We have a family of great tits nesting in a vertical pipe laent up the side of a building, the nest is approx 1metre down the 4inch wide pipe and 10foot above the ground.
Also a wren tried to build a nest in the front loader of the tractor but we had to stop it before it completed the nest as we couldn't guarantee that the tractor would be available for the duration of the nest was needed.

we have a wrens nest at our back door in a hose reel

I work at an oilworks in Erith, Kent. We have peregrine falcons nesting near a radar on top of silos, a fact you may know, but I have been monitoring a crows nest on top of a maintenance gantry, which I'm sure has eggs as they are being sat on. The crows have developed the nest through the grating of the gantry.
On a different part of the jetty, starlings have also nurtured eggs to fruition.

I have a pine tree. On the pine tree there is a bird box and inside is a bees nest.

at work we have a bluetit nesting in an open ended 4" x 4" steel tubed crash barrier,approx 10 foot in length, which is opened at 07: 30 and closed at 20:15.. 7 days a week,the parent birds are constantly back and too feeding the young,we havent ventured too close as not to disturb them,its facinating to watch the coming and goings,its the most unusual place i have ever seen a nesting site.we work at a re-cycling centre in manchester which is semi-rural and we have many birds and wild animals including foxs,badgers and many birds including herons,woodpeckers,owls in the wooded area to the south of the site,such a pleasant site to work infact work comes second(occasinally if the bosses read this comment) tthen again any publicity is good publicity.

i have a wren nesting in my shed she has been there for a few weeks and now waiting for babys to fly

The site of my nest is not unusual , half way up a big tree , were they normally nest
but Sparrow hawks within 2 minutes walk of Liverpool city centre has got to be a bit
special.
For obvious reasons I,ll not give the location away but the site , my work place , is
within 2 minutes walk of the main shopping centre and less than 5 minutes from Lime
street station [ the main terminus for Liverpool ].
The birds have been seen mating and the male bird is often seen on it,s favorite
plucking branch "thinning down the local pidgeon population".
At the moment I,m not sure about eggs/chicks as , although you can often see the
hen birds head looking over the rim of the nest , a big yellow eye staring at you ,
there is no view from the surounding buildings of the inside of the nest .
Maybe as any chicks that might emerge get large I will be able to tell more.
In the mean while they are gaining a bit of a celebrity status in work and in this warm weather make for a great dinner hours birding , sandwich , drink and you don,t even need binoculars to get a good view.

Advice needed please! Great Tits have nested in a terracotta urn in our garden. The urn is about 2ft high with a wide base (where the nest is located) but has a long narrow neck with a round opening about 3-4 inches in diameter. The eggs have hatched and we are worried that the fledglings will find it difficult to get out of the urn. Are we worrying unnecessarily - or should we perhaps lay the urn on its side? We don't want to do anything that will result in the parents abandoning the nest. Also, what signs do we look for to tell us that the birds are ready to fledge? Any help from the Springwatch team would be greatly appreciated.

At the weekend I noticed that a pair of Robins have found a very innovative nesting site in our barn – the starting handle hole on our old Massey Ferguson tractor!! We won’t be able to use the tractor now until the youngsters have flown the nest, but what a clever nesting place!

I was at work one day and heard a rumour going round that there were some Blue tits nesting in a "No stopping" cone so i went out to look for myself. Sure enough, this Blue Tit family had began making a nest in the traffic cone right next to the reception door. I kept an eye on these daily to make sure no one moved the cone and i also put a sign on saying, "Do not move".
A couple of months later and i was coming out of the reception door when i saw the mother blue tit flying out of the cone. Then i heard lots of cherping coming from the cone. the nest had finally been make and in the cone were 4 gorgeous baby blue tits all happy and healthy!

I have just had lunch at my local pub - The Hare in Lambourn Woodlands - the outside ashtray is fixed to the wall and has a grill that somehow has enough room for the bluetits as they go in and out feeding the babies as we all merrily continue our lunch. Wonderful sight to see and I have a photograph, but not sure how to download it onto here, but I think it beats the life belt!!

We live in Northamptonshire. Last year we had a family of bluetits nest in a box on a rose arch. This year we have a swarm of what appear to be small bumble bees, they are not bothering us at the moment my husband has cut the hedges round them but are they likely to become a nuisance. I tried to take a photo but they never keep still long enough and there always seems to be one of them sitting on the edge of the hole to the box.

Have just returned from visiting family in Cumbria and took a train journey from Workington to Carlisle. On departure from Wigton we passed a coal yard just north of the station and I thought I had seen an Oystercatcher sitting on top of a pile of coal so on the return journey I looked again and sure enough there was the Oystercatcher still sitting in the same position, presumably on some eggs?

The house across the way has Great tits nesting in an outdoor gas meter box. its locked and their getting in through a small hole in the door.
Also seen a pair of blackbirds nesting on the rain cover above the amber light on a set of traffic lights causing some distraction to drivers!

We've had blue tits nesting in a box on the side of our shed about 12feet high. We spotted a woodpecker hammering at the box one day themN it flew away. To our horror thid morning we found the box has a huge hole pecked out and the adult tit dead on the ground with all the nesting on the ground below could this have been the woodpeckers doing?

For the second time in 3 years we have had our bird box taken over by bees. They are fascinating to watch as they come and go, and now they seem to have produced a number of queens. What breed of bees are they and where do they all go after they finish with our bird box later in the summer?? i have some photos - need to learn how to put them into this site please

The 7 blue tit chicks that fell from the roof of our converted barn and into my boiler cupboard have all fledged succesfully. The last one was collected by its parents this evening.
The parents have been amazing and have allowed me to move the plantpot/Tupperware "nestbox" twice a day to ensure the birds were not in full sun. I also took the opportunity once a day to change the chicks' bedding (a clean piece of cotton tea towel) which I did when I was sure the parent birds weren't around.
I was concerned that the chicks would have difficulty climbing out of the box, but when they were ready they were very strong flyers and had no problems.
What a priviledge it has been at every stage to watch these little chicks and their indefatigable parents.

For six years we have had a bee nesting box at the top of the garden,last Autumn I checked to see if there was enough sawdust in one side,and to my amazement a small creature had built a nest of dried leaves on top of the sawdust.The only way in is through a very small plastic tube, into an empty chamber which then leads into the sawdust area through another small plastic tube.There are small dropping in the empty chamber!! what could this be??? This is still intact.

This does not concern a birds nest and it may be in the wrong section but it concerns a possible hive of Bumble bees building in a largish nest box.
last evening my wife June noticed a couple of bees flying round and across the entrance, they looked lost. This morning they were doing the same reminding me of a dance. Half an hour later they were joined by a third and, on a couple of occasions, I saw one enter the nest box and another came out. There have even been four flying round at the same time but usually two.
Do you think they are guarding the hive, I believe it is a small hive, ventilating it, or what. I have just had another glance and the two were joined by a third then a forth one which went into the box.
Two years ago blue tits nested there, it is about two or three yards from the house.
Dave.

Hi Springwatch
After hearing you talk about the nuthatch using mud to block the hole up,you might be interested in these pictures of the same hole.

These photographs illustrate the various occupants of the same hole over a 7 year span
A photographic history of the occupants of a green woodpecker's hole starting from when I first photographed it in 2005.
1) A young green woodpecker in 2005.
2) The hole was blocked up with mud by a nuthatch in 2007
3) In 2009 it was used buy another nuthatch who kept the hole open (notice the ring on its leg)
4) Then most recently (May 2012) it is occupied by a great-spotted woodpecker .

Dave Foker

We have a Coal Tits nest built right at the bottom of a Greek urn (an amphora I think they are called) It is upright, about 20" deep with a narrow 3" opening and is very dark inside. When the six babies fledge I worry that unless they can fly vertically (like a Hawker Harrier Jump Jet)at their inaugural flight they will never see the outside world! They are still virtually featherless. Should I, at some stage, slowly start to incline the jar daily to enable them to get a more horizontal first flight or will they be able to cope? I am loath to interfere but as they are crammed in already flight practice will be minimal!
Love the programme guys - Spring wouldn't be properly sprung without Spring Watch.
Liz Dawes
Kent

Playing golf today at sheerness golf club an oyster catcher had laid two eggs in the bunker on the left hand side of the par 3 17th
When players approached the green she left the nest and waited for them to leave before returning to the nest.
The eggs are as far as I know still intact

My dad once had a birds nest on the back of his Jet ski, it had been long abandoned when he found it, but he took a picture and I was fascinated by it.

Whilst in Spain we saw a pair of sparrows nesting in an swallows' nest. Cheeky!!

I have found a robin that has nested in the machinery shed on one of our machines it has nested in a particular strange place kind of underneath the petrol tank and kind of inside the engine, just wondering what the best thing to do would be as the machine gets used everyday for around 2-3 hours on the golf course, yet when cutting the robin isnt phased and sits on the nest while machine is in use, then it sometimes flies off and waits for me to finish on the machine therefore when the machine is placed back into machinery shed it goes back on to its nest onto its 4 eggs, would it be best to move the nest on to a machine thats exactly the same thats not in use as its broken before they hatch, or would there be a way of moving the nest when the robin is not there and placing it in the same position on the other machine or do you think it will abandon it? need some advice, thanks

I have redstarts nesting in my roof! I live very near to Yns Hir (20 mins away) too if you want to come and film them!!!!

I have tried to send an email or contact Springwatch with some photo's for barmiest nests and a question for chris about a oystercatcher nest we found but cannot understand how to do this. can you help?

seandb1955

Last year we had a blue tit nest in our alexandrines nest box the hen had died some months before this,it was fantastic to see the cock bird sitting on gard and letting the blue tits fly in and out past him.i have some photos but not sure how to put them on site

We have a pair or ring necked doves nesting in our old sky dish, when the sky engineer came to install our new mini dish he picked the nest off the dish placed it on the lawn with the two chicks still sat on the nest, then when he had installed the new dish he replaced the nest onto the dish with the chicks still sitting on it, the two chicks were large and as he worked on the new dish with the nest on the lawn my niece went and stroked the two chicks, they never moved at all, is this normal behaviour?

We were about to have our front bay replaced as the window frame is coming away from the bricks when i noticed a blue tit going back and forth and noticed it was making a nest within the cavity wall between the window cill and where the bricks start where the cement had fallen away. The babies have been born and are happily chirping away making a real racket and i watch the mother go back and forth feeding. I did worry last night though as a cat jumped up on my window cill outside so may have heard them so i chased it away and have been keeping close eye out. Hence our building work will have to wait for a bit longer! I was surpised at this nesting place as it is quite low down probably only about 3 foot off ground.

Last year wood pigeons successfully nested in a laburnum tree just 3 meters from my study window and raised 2 young. A few weeks ago a pair of wood pigeons, maybe last year’s pair or perhaps their offspring, dismantled the nest and rebuilt it in a cherry tree about 20 metres away. The pair sat on the new nest for a few days but are now in the process of moving it back. Is this normal behaviour for wood pigeons to re-use their old nesting materials?

Following high winds this week I found a goldcrests' nest which had been blown down. It was exquisitely made of moss, willow catkin fluff and lichens woven together with spiders' webs. Imagine how pleased I was to see such a nest on Springwatch and waited expectantly for Chris to point out how the birds had gathered lichens to make the nest. Last year Chris delighted us lichenologists by devoting a couple of minutes to talking about lichens and I had hoped he would again.
I realise that plants may not interest so many as animals do but please remember a considerable number of people are passionate about higher plants, mosses, lichens and fungi and would love to see the many glorious species that are at their best in the spring.

Is there an address to send items in to the show? My daughter found an incredible nest in her Grandads garden made out of multicolours, but has not been nested in for two years.

We heard tweeting from a bollard in a popular tourist destination so we investigated further and found there was a nest inside and the great tits would come and feed although the nest was hard to see but many people walked on oblivious :)