Double enjoyment

[tenrec]

Not a question, but just had to share. Walked along a very narrow country lane, hedge one side, wall on t'other and there in the banking was a nest with some very tiny baby birds. It was very well concealed - I heard them, all I could see was the gaping beaks. So I walked on and then stopped to look back to see if I could see the parent. I saw a robin, so think that may have been what they were.
Later saw my first ducklings of the year on the river. Sooo sweet. I think they were a cross breed, probably half mallard, half something else.

[redman41]

Adds to the joy of walking in the Countryside, hope you have many more encounters like this

[tenrec]

Thanks Redman

[baza]

got me thinking , i have not heard a cuckoo yet this year or at all last year, used to hear one around third week in april, has something happened?

[tenrec]

They are definitely not so common. My Mum's valley used to be ringing with the sounds, now only an odd one. Although they haven't arrived here (Lakes) yet, I don't think.

[gness]

Makes you forget all the rain.....almost. A memorable sight for me last year was a bird pretending to have a broken wing to draw me away for the nest. What a performance! Worthy of an Oscar.

[tenrec]

There was something about cuckoos on the radio a couple of days ago. They (whoever they are) have been tracking them to Africa and back. I think it was a 10,000 miles round trip.

[tenrec]

I know what you mean gness.

[Kiki-frog]

Lovely! And there is something wonderful about ducklings paddling about on the water, looking like they are clockwork.

gness - I've seen the skylarks on the common near us do that. Amazing parental instinct, isn't it?

[gness]

A beautiful thing to do. Last year in Co. Kerry we watched a tiny bird feeding an enormous,demanding cuckoo. Poor thing must have been exhausted.
Commissioned a picture of a Red Kite as a thank you to friends who looked after me last year. Came today and it`s stunning. If I spent less time watching kites and buzzards from my kitchen I might get some work done.

[tenrec]

I wish I had your kitchen window gness. The view sounds lovely.

[tenrec]

The inevitable has happened. Went past where the baby robins were, only to find dead birds on the bank. Tiny little bodies with hardly any feathers. I guess a stoat, or weasel may have had them.

[ladybirder]

Oh tenrec No. As soon as I saw your post about seeing therobins I knew they were doomed but you hope don't you. Nature's so cruel. But I expect/hope the mummy robin has learned a valuable lesson.

[tenrec]

ladybird, it certainly is survival of the fitest. I half expected them to have been got by something, but I didn't really expect to see the bodies. Someone asked me why they wouldn't nest up in a tree, but I suppose the tree dwellers could fall out of the nests!

[DaisyNonna]

My blackbirds are back! Nest building in my guttering. Last year builders destroyed the nest when I was away for two days.

[tenrec]

Oh Daisy, how lovely. At my old house we had great tits for a few years. We even gave them names, like Graham and Gertrude. They may have been different birds each year, I have no idea.