Nesting Season

The birds at Fotherdale have been very busy looking for nest sites. 

I was a little alarmed when this robin decided it fancied the tyre on the back of the Landcruiser. 

Whilst I would love to let it nest there, I need my car everyday and so I moved it before the robin got too far on with its structure.

But despite the fact that I drove it 40m away to the car park outside my gallery, the robin found it and carried on building!!! I will need to set off on a longer drive later today to discourage the robin before it gets any further - otherwise this could become a very expensive nest box!

Robins will nest on or near the ground in hollows, nooks and crannies, climbing plants, hedgebanks, tree roots, log piles - anywhere that provides a concealed cavity.

But they are famous for choosing all kinds of unlikely locations. A friend of mine found a nest in the tool pockets of his shed. 

One year a robin perched on the spout of an old kettle in my garden.  Seeing it there gave me the idea for the painting below. 

I used to use the kettle to keep plant labels in, but seeing the robin so familiar with it I decided to nail it to the fence and turn it into a nest box. 

The robin took to it easily. I watched as the female built the nest, creating a cup out of dead leaves and moss and lining it with hair.

The different ways in which birds build their nests is the subject of an exhibition opening at my gallery in Thixendale, North Yorkshire, next weekend.

I'll be showing a collection of pictures of birds I painted after watching them nest in unusual sites. 

I have collected samples of different nesting materials for families to touch and have a range of nest boxes for them to put their hands into, including a nest box I made from an old tree stump for a woodpecker.

I also have nest cams bringing live feeds to a bank of TV screens in the gallery from 10 different nest boxes hidden in the garden and surrounding countryside. 

So far the boxes are occupied by a tawny owl - which has already laid two eggs - and a barn owl. A blue tit has been fussing over which nest box to choose and keeps flitting in and out of several.  And a tree sparrow has brought a few bits of moss into one, making a start on what will become a tall domed structure.

My exhibition runs from Saturday March 28th to April 26th so if you are in Yorkshire or are planning to visit come and take a look at what will surely be the most precious eggs this Easter.

Some very precious eggs

Remember my post of March 3rd about the barn owl pair I was supplement feeding?

Well the good news is that they have laid six eggs, the last of which was laid just in time for Easter.

I’ve been monitoring their progress via video link from a nest cam linked to my hide. The first egg appeared on April 1 and I have been watching each subsequent arrival with baited breath.

He would let out a soft chittering call as he flew into the box. As she replied you could see her wings quivering and she would tremble as he entered the nest chamber and delicately offered her the mouse.

After she accepted each offering, he would mate her and head back out to hunt for another.

On one occasion I watched him present her with a mouse, and then mate her, twice in the space of 20 minutes, before, on the third occasion, she took the mouse from him and stood up and turned sharply on him as if to say “Not this time!”

It was very exciting when I crept into my hide on April 1 and switched on the TV monitor to spot an egg under her belly.

After that she laid another egg every three or four days until she had a clutch of six.

Barn owls don’t usually start laying until the first two weeks in May, so if we are lucky this pair might go on to lay another clutch this year.

It would make a huge difference to local populations if they did. This month the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust launched a campaign to save the ‘last barn owls in Yorkshire’: these birds of prey could disappear from the county altogether if the current rate of decline continues, so every owlet counts.

I’m so glad I decided to supplement feed this pair as it really has worked. It is so satisfying to see that all my day trips to feed this pair in all weathers paid off. 

I found it very rewarding too. It was so exciting going into my hide each night and turning on the screens to count the eggs.

I’m hoping the first egg will hatch on May Day. I can’t wait. They won’t all hatch at once and so it will be thrilling waiting for each chick to emerge.

This is a picture of two chicks I painted some time ago. These chicks will differ in size considerably and I’m sure there will be plenty of drama in the secret world of the nest box.

I’ll be posting live footage of the chicks as they hatch, so watch this space.