After watching the parents sitting there day after day and changing over at regular intervals we thought it must be a failure. Looking at the nest from ground level we could see no evidence of there being any chicks but the adults kept coming back and forth.
However on the 14th July we had our first sighting of a well developed chick sitting in its nest.
Today it is moving around the Christmas Tree but as far as we know it has not yet attempted flight, despite desperate attempts by both parents to encourage it.
Here the parent is keeping guard in the adjacent willow and making a lot of Coo Coo noise but as yet the baby is staying put.
If it survives and it is a big IF*, it will be interesting to see if it comes to the bird feeders in the winter.
* when I opened the bedroom shutters a few days ago, a very large Buzzard was sitting looking at me from the same willow (above photograph). It is only the second time we have seen a Buzzard in the garden!! As usual the camera was nowhere to be found!!!
