The story of the baby birds… (Llanfyllin, Wales)

The story of the baby birds… (Llanfyllin, Wales)

Chapter 1 (of 3) The baby Nuthatch

To be precise, it was on the 23rd April, that my wife, Jude, heard a thud on the kitchen window. When she went outside, she saw a tiny Nuthatch lying on the ground. Its eyes were closed and she thought it was dead. However, after picking it up, she felt a tiny pulse, so she held on to it for about 10 minutes, to allow it to recover. (See pic 1)

After another few minutes, she opened her hands to let it fly away, but it steadfastly clung to her finger. (Pic 2). It seemed OK and, of course, she couldn’t stand there holding it indefinitely, so she put it on the bird feeder. (Pic 3). And, after another 10 minutes or so, it flew away. Result! 👍👍😊

Chapter 2 (of 3) The 3 Tawny Owlets (no, not the 3 Little Pigs!)

About 2 weeks ago, Jude noticed something in one of the trees on the other side of the fence at the bottom of the garden. After a closer look, it turned out to be a young Tawny Owl. A later check of the oak trees further along revealed not just that one, but two more Owlets. One of the parents was there too, but it flew off as soon as we approached.

As you will see from the gallery below, initially they were, for the most part, a bundle of fluffy down, but as the days past, more and more feathers appeared. We’ve heard them every evening, just after dusk, making quite a noise, but as of last night, things have gone quiet… So we think they’ve fledged and moved on to pastures new.

We have a lot of small holes in the grass at the bottom of the garden, which I assumed would be voles or water voles. Intrigued to find out, I put our trailcam up to see what might turn up, half hoping that I would see the parent owl catching a few of whatever was making the holes.

After a few 10 second videos of something shuffling forward towards the hole, this is what it took, (which I presume is one of the owlets or the parent, capturing and gobbling down something, most probably a vole):

Chapter 3 (of 3) The Pied Flycatchers

As if all that excitement wasn’t enough, on Tuesday Jude (again!) spotted an unusual bird flitting along the fence at the bottom of the garden. She said it was black, with a white front and a white flash on the wings. A quick bit of research revealed it to be a Pied Flycatcher. She said she thought there must be a nest nearby as it seemed very busy going back and forth but didn’t appear to want to give away the location of the nest.

So yesterday, I set about getting some pictures (the things I do for my loyal readers!) and I discovered exactly where the nest was. There are not many photos below, (decent images are hard to catch with a telephoto lens) but the two parents were back and forth every minute or so, diving into what might be an old woodpecker hole.

I understand that there can be between 5 and 9 youngsters in that hole, but I doubt we’ll get to capture any of them flying away. Sorry!