First juveniles of 2015

I looked out of the window early this morning and was greeted by two juvenile Woodpigeons that were sat in a tree in the garden. This is the third breeding season running that Woodpigeons have produced the first fledged juveniles I have recorded. They looked like they had been out of the nest for at least a week as their bills had already shrunk close to the adult shape.

Assuming they had left the nest around a week ago and allowing for a typical fledging period of 33-34 days and an incubation period of 17 days (BTO bird facts) the nest would have been built in early to mid February and the eggs laid in about the third week of that month. This is at the very early end of the species breeding season which more commonly starts in April. I have no idea where this pair nested although it was probably nearby but I am sure it was not in my garden.

I didn't get chance to take any photos this morning but one of them was back in the garden this afternoon and stayed around for a while, the other was sat in a tree just across the road. I didn't see the parents feed either of them while I was watching and the one I photographed did help itself to some emerging Rowan flowers. Later one of the juveniles followed an adult round the lawn and copied its feeding activity so they must be very close to being independent.

An early success for the 2015 breeding season.

Add your own caption. 'what are you looking at' is mine.

Eating an emerging Rowan flower.
Tree flowers are an important part of their diet at this time of year and the emerging flowers of Common Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) are frequently eaten. This is the first time I have seen Woodpigeon eating emerging Rowan flowers.

Feather management is really important for any bird from an early age.

A wing stretch to the right.

A wing stretch to the left.

.... and now both together. 

Proud parent.

This spring has been a strange stop start affair to say the least and despite a fairly mild winter seems to be quite late in terms of plant development. Trees are only coming into leaf quite slowly and are at a similar stage now to what they were in the very cold spring of 2013 which followed the extremely cold and snowy winter of 2012-13. I have come to this conclusion from comparing photographs of the same trees taken in different years (the Rowan in the photos above being an example) and this year is surprisingly late even though we have not had any prolonged spells of very cold weather. This is bound to have a knock on effect on insects and it will be interesting to see how this pans out over the breeding season. From what I have seen and read tits are nesting later this year than last and it remains to be seen if they have got their timing right.

Slow going

I am getting bored with this weather as we seem to be stuck between seasons with winter not quite releasing its grip and spring not having the oomph of some southerly airflow to really get going. If we are unlucky it could drag on like this for some time with migration continuing at a slow pace but if we get some decent conditions there is likely to be a sudden rush of summer visitors. Unfortunately the forecast doesn't look too promising although we should have a brief respite this Thursday and hopefully a few migrants on the back of it.

I have only ringed one Chiffchaff since my last post and they are still fairly thin on the ground or absent from my sites. A wintering male Blackcap is still visiting the feeders in the garden each day and I am almost certain it is the bird that was ringed there on 10th January. A second male also makes an occasional appearance and I suspect this is the other male I ringed in January rather than a newly arrived spring migrant.

Chiffchaff ringed 25/03/15

Blackcap in the garden 28/03/15 and the same bird was still present today. I have partially read the ring number from photographs and I am fairly confident it is the bird I ringed in the garden on 10th January and first appeared in the garden on 1st January.

On the plus side I did find my first nest of the spring today. I was watching the ringed Blackcap on a feeder when I noticed a female Blackbird leave the privet hedge below. I had seen one carrying nesting material in that area the other week so went out to have a look. I soon spotted the nest containing at least 3 eggs but I rushed back in the house to get the camera rather than counting them there and then. I was only inside for less than a minute but when I got back to the nest the Blackbird had returned and was sat tight. I didn't want to disturb her so I will have to count the clutch another day.

The privet hedge has a lot of ivy growing through it and the bird has picked a location where a lot of debris from cuttings builds up in the hedge.

..........and a closer view from the same angle.

Unfortunately the chances of this nest being successful are very low. The nest is only a couple of feet off the ground and cats are not infrequent visitors to the garden. Blackbirds usually hatch their eggs but their problems really start when the young are well grown and start to get noisy. Cats generally find the nest at this stage and cause the young to leave prematurely. They either kill them all then or they pick them off over the next day or so. If they are really lucky the odd youngster survives. I do my best to protect nests and have used wire mesh to try and keep the cats at bay in the past but it doesn't always work. If the Blackbirds nested at a higher level it would improve their chances but they rarely do so despite the availability of suitable sites.