Busy black birds are the perfect parents

A FEW weeks ago a pair of blackbirds built a nest in the hedge outside my conservatory.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the conservatory – partly because I’ve some extra work to do and partly because it’s been too wet to go outside – and so I’ve been able to watch the birds caring for their young.

I couldn’t actually see the nest because the hedge is very dense and I didn’t go looking in case I disturbed the birds. But they always used the same hole in the hedge to fly in and out and it was less than two metres from where I sat reading and writing.