Sunday 31 July 2011

Blackbird's nest



Mr Grumpy had refrained from trimming the hedge while the blackbirds were nesting, but once the fledglings had flown, he climbed up the ladder and found this perfect, beautiful, empty nest. He trimmed the hedge, then put it back in case were tempted to nest a second time.

We were amazed to find that the blackbirds had wound garden string around it, and had woven sage leaves in. On Springwatch, they said that birds often use aromatic leaves to keep ticks and flies out of the nest. If you look at the top photo you can see the sage quite clearly. They must have nipped it from my sage bush!

1 comment:

Jackie Sayle said...

Little works of art, nests, aren't they? Perhaps with the exception of the one our unfortunate magpie made earlier in the year!

Sage to keep the bugs away, eh? Will next year's have citronella candles around the rim to keep the midges at bay? :-)