Early June I went to Shipley Glen again to look at the nests I had seen before on the guided walk from Bracken Hall Countryside Centre.
There was still activity at one of the Blue Tit’s nests I had seen. This one has a convenient landing strip in front of it.
It was quite narrow getting in but it had plenty of head room.
And of course the adults came out with faecal sacs from the chicks.
Both adults were busy feeding and had to sometimes wait for the other adult to leave the nest before going in themselves.
The adults didn’t need the landing strip when leaving the nest. They were happy to just launch themselves into the air.
The Great Spotted Woodpecker nest was also busy. This is the male bringing in food.
The female with Mayfly for the chick(s)
The male with Mayfly
The chick(s) kept up a constant “Chip, Chip, Chip” while I was watching. I sounded loud from where I was so it must have been almost deafening in the confines of the nest.
Feeding the chicks looked a risky business. The chick sometimes lunged out with open beak for the food and the adult had to quickly retreat or get a sharp peck.
When I have seen other birds being fed either their beaks were short or looked soft yellow openings. The Woodpecker chicks though seemed to already have a beak capable of chipping away at wood.
Mallard ducklings on Cragg Hebble Dam on Loadpit Beck at the bottom of Shipley Glen. There were also dozens of Azure Damselflies all paired up to lay their eggs. Last year I also saw several Grey Wagtails catching the damselflies but not on this visit; only a Jay jumping about on the edge mostly hidden by branches so no photo.
Heading back up to Bracken Hall Green I first heard and then spotted a Nuthatch.
There were several Speckled Wood Butterfly flitting about but few of them landed so that I could get a photo.
As usual you can click on any of the images within the text to view them on Flickr or simply view the album with a few more images on Flickr.
Leave a Reply