The second wave of just-out-of-the-nest starlings descended this morning. They are so noisy but lovely to watch. One poor parent has four to deal with. Well done him/her to get them all to fledge! There are currently fifteen all clamouring for their parents to feed them. The first wave in May brought over thirty babies to the garden and many of them are still visiting. Such busy times!
Yesterday evening my cat was investigating underneath some creeping sort of plant (I'm not a gardener!) which has covered a lot of our patio wall. I had a good look but couldn't see anything but he insisted on going back to the plant. I had a closer look thinking that he had maybe lost a mouse in there and found, tangled up in the long stems of the plant, a teeny young goldfinch. It was very cold and wet but didn't seem injured but was very stressed. I took it in and put it in my emergency wildlife box (actually it's an old Heroes tin with holes punched in the top
) with a piece of fluffy towel, put it on a hot water bottle and left it in the spare bedroom for half an hour with my very annoyed cat waiting outside. It recovered quite quickly but then I wasn't sure if it was old enough to feed itself as the parents feed a mashed up seed mix for a while - dilemma. In the end I waited until I could hear other goldfinches twittering away in the apple tree. I took the tin downstairs. Shut in my two increasingly agitated cats and opened the tin. It flew off straight away - admittedly it was a little wobbly but it managed to make it to the "big tree" next door. I waited and ten minutes later it was joined by the flock and seemed to belong to them so hopefully it will be ok. This morning there was a similar sized one being fed in the apple tree so I am saying that this is the one I rescued.
Taz x
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Topic: Wild Birds and all things to do with Nature (Read 1121852 times)