Yes it’s that time of year when our bird numbers are swelled by broods of youngsters coming to terms with the world. There are a number of birds breeding in the Garden, including a pair of blue tits that have successfully raised a family in one of the boxes we’ve put out and they fledged a couple of days ago. Putting up nest boxes in your garden for a variety of different birds, is one of the simple things you can do to make it more wildlife friendly, especially where natural nest sites are lacking. It will give you a great deal of enjoyment too!
The Great Spotted Woodpeckers are also taking advantage of what the garden has to offer and are now feeding their hungry babies in their favourite nesting tree – they have used the same tree several times in the last few years, but they always make a brand new hole. I can hear the youngsters in the nest now and this is often how Great Spotted Woodpecker nests are often found - the youngsters really do get quite noisy after a week or too in their darkened world in the tree nest hole. This is the male outside the hole.