Birds at my Workshop

This time of year is is a spectacular frenzy of birds, everywhere hungry mouths to feed and first flights for fledglings.

I count myself very lucky to have a number of birds that have chosen to make their nests and raise their broods here in my work sheds.  It means I can watch their comings and goings up really close and personal.

There is  Wren in the store shed, Swallows in the stone stock shed, Pied Wagtail in my workshop, and Kestrels (on the opposite side) in my workshop.  I’m counting the Blackbirds too, though they nested in the hedgerow which runs along the northern edge of my sheds, as they were the first to bring their young to my outside work area.

The Wagtail’s nest is tucked into a ledge where the shed frame creates a triangular nook and is surprisingly well hidden, they had laid their fifth egg before I realised the nest was there.  The eggs hatched last weekend, in the middle of the torrential rain and wind and sudden cold.  I worried of course.  Wagtail parents are very attentive and every few minutes they’re fluttering in with beaks full of insects.

The Kestrels have nested in the Barn Owl box as they did last year, and the young are now becoming quite restless, with lots of stomping around and wing-flapping in preparation and practice  for when they finally venture out.

They too have doting parents, lizards, pheasant (or partridge, I’m not sure) chicks and voles are brought in a well-ordered routine.

The adult birds are fiercely protective and see off buzzard, crow, magpie, and there was even a noisy battle with a pair of ducks who have nested on the beck some distance away, but whose regular flight takes them past the sheds.

In turn I feel protective of all my nesters – first task when I get to the workshop is to greet, and check on them all – and the same, but ‘goodnight’ when I leave in the evening.

What a glorious season it is.  My work companions make me very happy.