Baby Blackbirds

For the past month or so we have been watching the comings and goings of a pair of blackbirds that chose to build a nest in a clematis right near our living room window.

As they were building the nest it was very visible as the plant hadn't yet started to bloom. It wasn't very high from the ground but luckily we don't have many cats passing through our garden. 

We kept our eye on the birds activity from eggs to little bald babies

and the cute fluffy stage. (I think they look like grumpy old men here).
 While I thought they were relatively safe from cats I noticed we were getting more visits from magpies and crows (there are more birds nesting in the hedges at the moment) so I kept coming out to shoo them off.

Only one day after that last photo they all left their nest and were hiding in various places near the back of our house. One hopped in to our kitchen and ended behind the freezer. As we were putting it back near the nest site the baby's chirping alerted the parents who then began the shout and swoop at us. The parents were still coming back to feed them yesterday but today there is no sign of any of them. It was nice to have them so close to the house and watch them grow.

Pottering In The Garden

Our weekend was spent mainly doing bits around the garden. 

There was a tree in the front garden which was planted in between our house and our neighbours. Our neighbours asked if they could chop it down as it was dropping sap in to their cars. We didn't mind. I don't know what type of tree it was, it wasn't the prettiest, no birds nested in it and it saves us raking up the leaves and would also give us a bit more light in the living room. 

So Saturday morning Anders and the man next door set about the tree with a chain saw. Little L helped by cutting the branches up for their log burner. One of our shrubs ended up being a casualty of the tree felling (fortunately it was one of our plants that got squished and not one of their cars) but the lady next door works at a nursery and said she'd bring us one to replace it. She turned up in the evening with these three for us.

On Sunday we went plant shopping for the pots that we have in the front garden.

Cosmos

Cape Marigold

English Daisy

We also bought an elephant ear plant and some pinks to fill in a couple of bare spots.

All the activity attracted a blackbird looking for lunch. She must have young near by because she kept filling her beak with juicy worms, flying off and coming back for more.