Home sweet home - for the birds that is..

Rooks, one of the most obvious nest builders, are already well under way with their building and you may have seen their large nests at the top of the bare trees by the roadsides. They will start by collecting sticks and dropping them on the branches they have chosen as their home.  To begin with, more often than not their twigs will drop through, but with time, they lodge in the branches of the tree and a rather unruly nest will begin to form.  Rooks are big birds and they can afford to nest where they can be seen, but most birds are much more secretive about it.

 The birds at Wicor have started to make their nests and you can see evidence of this all day as they go to and fro with small twigs, feathers and grasses in their beaks.  Look out for long-tailed tits who can use up to 2,000 feathers in each nest and in their effort to collect all the various materials, they will fly between 600-700 miles!  Birds only spend a small part of their year – often only a few days – building nests, and they instinctively build it to a design that is unique to their species.If you keep your eyes peeled throughout late March and April, you may be able to see evidence of this around you at home too. 

Still, with a bit of patience, you can spot signs of your garden birds nesting. Blackbirds, robins and song thrushes build nests in the ‘classic design’ – nice neat cups of woven grasses and small twigs, camouflaged with moss and lined with mud.  The birds will be quite careful about approaching their chosen nest site, and you may see them stopping to check they are not being watched before they plunge into a hedge or shrub. However, they can only be as subtle as a bird with grass and moss in its beak can be, so if you’re lucky enough to be looking out of your window at the right moment, you may see them collecting the material, or even notice where they are nesting.

But how do birds, with only beaks as tools, turn these basic components into nests secure enough to take a growing family of nestlings, vying for their parents’ attentions and stretching their wings?
It would seem that beaks are very good tools for building. It’s a delicate business, the weaving in of new material to create the nest cup. A blackbird will land on the base of the nest and lay the next strand of grass or twig on the top. She will then turn in the nest and carefully weave this new strand into the side of the cup.   It’s the turning action that leaves the inside of the nest completely smooth and well compacted, ready to take eggs and chicks. She’ll continue until the cup is complete and will then visit ponds or puddles and collect mud to use to strengthen the inside of the nest.

Click on the link to watch a blackbird making a nest:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ySgRlxjj2A

Spring in sprung and world sparrow day

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The astronomical spring in the Northern Hemisphere begins today, Sunday, March 20.The Spring (vernal) equinox in the Northern Hemisphere is also known as the March equinox. It's called the "autumnal (fall) equinox" in the Southern Hemisphere. The March equinox marks the moment the Sun crosses the celestial equator – the imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator – from south to north.  And a lovely day it was too, with seas calm, and a vivid red sunset.  The first few signs of spring are now appearing too with lots of daffodils nodding their heads and primroses flowering.  If you look closely at the trees and bushes, buds can also be seen ready to burst forth.  Blackthorn trees are also just starting to blossom in warmer corners.  Blackthorns are often confused with hawthorns.  To tell them apart blackthorns flower first and before their leaves and hawthorns flower later and after its leaves.  For further information check out: http://www.wildlifeinsight.com/3563/whats-the-difference-between-blackthorn-and-hawthorn/
 
If you are looking for other signs of spring, then frog, toad and newt spawn should also be around.  The first butterflies are out - look for tortoiseshells, yellow brimstone and peacocks.  The yellow brimstone is often the first butterfly to be seen after the winter:  http://butterfly-conservation.org/50-1310/brimstone.html



The gardens are also now full of chirping birds, with sparrows and dunnocks busy collecting nesting materials.  As well as it being the first day of spring today, it is also World Sparrow Day: http://www.worldsparrowday.org
Keep an eye out for hedgehogs coming out of hibernation.  They need all the help they can get at the moment.  A fantastic website giving you all the information you could need is: http://www.hedgehogstreet.org/  Here you will find what to find hedgehogs and how to keep them safe.  If you do want to feed a hedgehog then give shallow dish of water and a combination of:

• Meat-based dog or cat food
• Unsalted chopped or crushed peanuts
• Sunflower hearts
• Dried meal worms

But do check out the website as it tells you how to get your garden hedgehog ready this spring.  We have lost a third of our hedgehogs in the last ten years, with an estimate of fewer than a million left in the UK.  Hedgehogs are declining at the same rate as tigers - around 5% a year.

Lastly, have a look for the emergence of the bumblebee or Bombus terrestris. The buff-tailed bumblebee queen, the largest UK species, is usually the first bee to emerge, often at the end of February. The other queen bee possibly out and about at the moment is Bombus lucorum, the white-tailed bumblebee. If you're interested, Bumblebee.org have a lovely guide to tell the two apart.

Happy spring everyone!

Heron

On Wednesday at 9.05 am we saw a heron standing by the pond looking at frogs. It was standing still looking at the water for about 20 minutes.
Eventually, as fast as lightening its neck bent down and it caught a frog in its beak. He held it in his mouth for a while, dipped it in the water two times and ate it.
It dropped it on the floor a few times because it couldn't get a good grip. Jack said it made him feel ill seeing the frog half dead and being eaten.
Annabelle thought it was really exciting, they have to eat frogs otherwise they will die and it was a pretty bird as well.

Annabelle Warren and Jack Oliver, Class 4W

The school pond with one less frog