The blackbird builds an incredible structure in a nest

IT WAS a dirty day, howling gusts of wind carrying cold, hard rain.

I was sitting by the fire reading when the phone rang. It was a neighbour and she was in her car close to my front gate. A tree had just blown down blocking the lane and, because it’s a cul-de-sac, she was trapped, unable to get out to collect kids from school. I grabbed a weatherproof jacket and hurried out to the shed to fill the chainsaw with fuel and oil. Apart from considerations of good neighbourliness, the roots of the offending tree were on my property and the landowner is legally responsible for any damage his trees do.

Luckily it wasn’t a big tree, an old hawthorn, but the job was complicated by a dense entanglement of ivy. It took half an hour before I had it clear enough for my neighbour to complete her school run. Then, as I was dragging a massive clump of ivy off the road, out popped a bird’s nest.