The tale of the recycling Robin

I love hearing your stories from your own gardens, and this week Mary Payne got in contact with a heart-warming (and undoubtedly egg-warming) tale.

Mary is in Buckinghamshire, and last year she and her husband, Chris, were terribly upset to find a dead Robin inside their garage.

They felt even worse when they discovered she had built a nest in a plastic storage box inside the garage (it is just the female Robin that nest builds).

They had no idea she had gone in there and had inadvertently shut her in. (A timely warning to garage and shed-owners, says Mary.)

A week or so ago, Mary noticed some serious Robin construction work going on in the garden. The garage door is now firmly closed, you'll be glad to know! Instead, their nest-building bird has been disappearing into the Ivy that climbs all over their fence, bearing lots of moss, leaves and other bits and pieces.

In a stroke of genius, Mary placed the ill-fated nest (which she'd kept in the garage) down on the ground close to the new site.

Soon, it was a delight to see their little construction-worker come and take material from it. You can see the effect below.

The Robin has now removed all the soft hair and feathers that had been used to line the cup of last year's nest. Mary has saved the Robin a bit of collecting effort, and a nice bit of recycling has come out of a sad situation.

After Mary took the second photo, she and Chris went away for the weekend and by the time they came back, every scrap of nesting material had been taken.

We wish you many happy Easter eggs as a result, Mary!