Nesting time.....

The hot sun has brought all the woodland flowers on at a fast pace. We do not have many Wood Anemones flowering in our wood as the rabbits seem to get them all, but further into the main wood there are always wonderful carpets of white. 2020 is no exception. Yet even in these spots, the heat has begun to wilt the flowers a little already and cut the spectacle short.  And when the Anemones begin to die down it seems the Bluebells are timed to come into flower in a well organised natural sequence and put on their own woodland showtime. Its an amazing show and with luck the Bluebells will last a few more weeks yet as they are only just beginning to open en masse.

The woods look wonderful with fresh new green leaves on the birches and the woodland floor a carpet of colour. There is activity too in my numerous nest boxes. I am pretty certain the Tawny Owl is now sitting on eggs in the owl box but I do not want to disturb her to find out in case she deserts the nest. I set up a wildlife camera today to see if I can gather any evidence of activity at the box.

Further into the wood, a pair of Nuthatches, has returned to the nest box they adopted two years ago and raised a family in. Nuthatches have a unique habit of sealing all the cracks around their nest and reducing the entrance in size with mud and spittle. Somewhere in their evolution they needed to provide a high level of protection against predators or bacteria and the habit has stuck. There are several species of Nuthatch world-wide; those that excavate their own hole do not seal it up, while those that adopt a ready-made hole, do. The pair in the wood were quite bold and did not seem to mind me standing close by to watch them at work.

Elsewhere in the wood, Wrens were gathering nesting materials and Great Spotted Woodpeckers were digging out their own holes with Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps providing the supporting soundtrack. A fine place indeed to escape the pandemic, if only for a morning.

Wood anemones

A Great Spotted Woodpecker excavating a hole in a dead pine tree

Wren with nesting material

The Nuthatch pair on site

 bringing in fresh mud to seal the cracks, see how the birds have sealed the entire edge

This is an Eastern Rock Nuthatch, photographed in Georgia, a different species that lives in rocky areas but like our nuthatch sculpts the entrance hole to its nest with mud and saliva.

This shows how the entrance has been narrowed down with mud, job done !