A beakful of worms

One of the pairs of Blackbirds that have our garden in their territory is nesting in a Pyracantha bush next to the kitchen window.

The bush is in need of trimming but there have been nests in it all spring and it will have to wait. There is a window, directly behind it and this does give a view into the bush.

Looking up, from outside, the nest is visible and I can stand very close to it and watch both birds on the nest with out them taking much notice. If they come back with food and I have a camera, instead of feeding the young they immediately sit on the nest and brood them. So I haven't managed a picture of the adults feeding the young.

Both bird will feed very close to both Pam and I while we are in the garden and the male seemed to follow me around while I cut the lawn today. The female spent much of her time with Pam as she weeded and put in some plants.

In the front garden I accidentally flushed a juvenile that was drinking in the "stream". It sat on the fence for a while and allowed me to take its picture. It isn't one of the young from the nest I've been watching, they are still in the nest being fed.

We've got a really good compost bin going at the moment and it is absolutely heaving with worms. I put a dollop of the compost on the ground, near to the nest site and waited for the birds to find it. The female carried on going down the garden to feed near Pam, but the male quickly found this rich source of food.

It was interesting watching his method. He collected quite a few worms each time, and every now and again he put them all down on the ground in front of him before picking them all up again. Once again he took no notice of me until the big lens was pointing at him when he would often move away until the lens was out of sight. I mush look, like a large eye of some huge monster, it certainly makes him a little nervous.