Spring Watch 🦉 from your living room or garden 🐝

WhatThe
WhatThe Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 5,660 Championing
edited May 3 in Coffee lounge

I've had the privilege of watching crows build a nest near the top of a tree from my top floor windows. It took about a fortnight to weave sticks into a basket.

I read that these birds mate for life and build more than one nest in case one is not viable but they have decided to settle here 😊

Mrs Crow has been sitting on it since last weekend - she lays one blue egg a day though I can't see into the nest. It's lined with white fur and meant to be big enough for the chicks until they fledge but I don't think many will fit. There's also not much canopy above her so she keeps getting bombed by other crows! I don't know if they are trying to steal eggs or mate with her and Mr Crow can be a bit slow to get here 🙄

Four weeks later, I can see and hear at least two chicks. Both parents are feeding and the canopy now hides them so I can only see them when the wind is blowing. They are quieter versions of their very noisy parents.

Springwatch returns to our screens later this month!

What can YOU see from your living room or garden this Spring?

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Comments

  • Mary_Scope
    Mary_Scope Posts: 4,570 Scope Online Community Children and Family Specialists

    This sounds lovely @WhatThe! Have you seen the little babies yet?

    From my living room I can only see my neighbours unfortunately! But from my garden I can see a really big mountain and it's always so nice to see that get brighter and greener each Spring/Summer😊

  • Bluebell21
    Bluebell21 Community Member Posts: 2,980 Trailblazing
    edited May 3

    We had two magpies building a nest for a few days in this tree at the bottom of my garden. @WhatThe

    Then they just left and took some of the twigs with them. Which was a shame.

    DSCI0931.JPG
  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 5,660 Championing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1123018#Comment_1123018

    I can see two bobbing about flapping wings already but it's getting harder by the day to see inside the tree.

    Watching these sycamores sprout lime green splashes every year makes me so happy, too! They will soon screen my opposite neighbours which also makes me happy 😉

  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 5,660 Championing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1123070#Comment_1123070

    Bluebell, perhaps the magpies will return next year when the shrub is taller and hides the nest.. One of our gardening experts or birdwatchers might know. Thank you for sharing and happy Spring to you!

    ("Which was a shame." I can't help but think of the Fast Show here 😄)

  • michael57
    michael57 Community Member Posts: 2,830 Championing

    magpies will usually have numerous nests on the go and will pick the one most unseen by predators they are very clever birds

  • Bluebell21
    Bluebell21 Community Member Posts: 2,980 Trailblazing

    I did wonder @WhatThe when I saw how exposed the nest was. Perhaps next year.

    Happy Spring to you too.

  • Bluebell21
    Bluebell21 Community Member Posts: 2,980 Trailblazing
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1123103#Comment_1123103

    Thank you. I did not know that.

  • ColonelBlink
    ColonelBlink Community Member Posts: 681 Pioneering
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1123103#Comment_1123103

    My neighbours moan about the noise the magpies make, but tbh, I prefer that to their whinging!

  • michael57
    michael57 Community Member Posts: 2,830 Championing

    haha they are rather vocal

  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 5,660 Championing

    😆 magpies, crows and parrakeets here and I'd choose their noise any day!

  • Amberpearl
    Amberpearl Community Member Posts: 3,926 Championing

    Lots of pidgeons and seagulls

  • WhatThe
    WhatThe Community Member, Scope Member Posts: 5,660 Championing
    edited May 4

    I forgot about the noisy seagulls and screeching squirrels 🐿️ and frolicking foxes 🦊 I love it here.

  • ColonelBlink
    ColonelBlink Community Member Posts: 681 Pioneering
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1123205#Comment_1123205

    I draw the line at herring gulls, they made my life a misery when I lived in another Angus coastal town, where the harbour is now called a 'marina'!

    The monstrous herring gulls prefer kebab meat and household food waste to fish these days sadly, and street lights allow them to feed 24/7. We are so kind to them!

  • 66Mustang
    66Mustang Community Member Posts: 15,431 Championing
    edited May 6

    We recently just had a several-month-long hosepipe ban lifted which was originally imposed by some starlings. They decided to nest in the middle of our hosepipe - which is rolled up into a coil and hung to the wall!! They've all fledged now!

    We'd been watching them flutter around the garden for a while, and noticed in about early March that they'd built a nest in there. The nest is quite exposed and also low down - quite vulnerable… we have a few neighbourhood cats so I suspect maybe us having a dog might have contributed - maybe through whatever sense they somehow detected that and associated it with a lack of cats?

  • SmellyBin
    SmellyBin Community Member Posts: 486 Empowering
    20260504_125406.jpg

    We had a nest with blackbirds and this morning they fledged! One had some difficulties and when it safely took off after an hour it made me cry with joy and relief.

  • Rosie_Scope
    Rosie_Scope Posts: 8,409 Online Community Team

    Oh that's so sweet @SmellyBin! Nature can be brutal but you can't help but feel a bit of joy when you see the struggle pay off for a little creature just starting it's life.

    I've just moved house and the garden has been neglected for a long time so it's full of weeds, ivy and brambles. But there's lots of birds and beasties there making the most of it. I lifted up a plastic bin bag a couple of days ago and found a gorgeous slow worm enjoying the warmth. I've seen him a couple of times since so I hope he'll stick around once I've tidied up the rubbish.

    And there's lots of birds nesting in all the ivy. I've seen pigeons, blackbirds, a robin pair and some starlings. Looking forward to seeing who else visits towards the end of Spring!

  • SmellyBin
    SmellyBin Community Member Posts: 486 Empowering

    @Rosie_Scope Yeah, we've got a bit of a disorganized garden, but that is very good for wildlife, methinks. So indeed, there are tiny highlights like that waiting to be discovered. A few nights in a row I saw a bat fly by while I was in bed at night, always a treat :)

  • Mary_Scope
    Mary_Scope Posts: 4,570 Scope Online Community Children and Family Specialists

    That sounds amazing @SmellyBin! I'd love to see a bat in the wild, very cute creatures.

    Has anybody ever had a hedgehog in their garden? My cousin has had one in hers a couple of times, how sweet!

  • SmellyBin
    SmellyBin Community Member Posts: 486 Empowering

    @Mary_Scope The cats always keep their distance :) Haven't seen one yet this season… Not sure, but hedgehogs also thrive in messy gardens?

    IMG_1855.jpg
  • Rosie_Scope
    Rosie_Scope Posts: 8,409 Online Community Team

    I would LOVE to see a hedgehog in my garden. They're such sweet little critters. They probably do like a messier garden where they can forage without being disturbed. I've also heard it's good to cut a little hole in the bottom of your fence to create a "hedgehog highway" so they can waddle through the neighbourhood freely.

    We have a lot of foxes around so they might be put off from coming out much here and I've never seen a live one since I've been in London. But hopefully one day I'll spot one, fingers crossed!

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