Bird nest

It's illegal to do anything to that nest under the  wildlife and countryside act.

Leave the nest alone.

I take your point Bruce, but at the moment it is a small pile of twigs, easily established elsewhere, we are in a wooded location, there are literally thousands of better locations within a stones throw. I cannot stay completely away, my concern is that once the nest is established and she lays eggs we may disturb her to the extent she abandons. I wonder if it would be kinder to move it now before she invests too much. It's right next to the only access to the woodshed and main shed, we cant avoid it.
I'm just trying to do the right thing here, I'd honestly love to share space with the nest and watch them grow if its realistic.

Bruce is right.

I suggest that you get rspb advice because the fledglings will hurt themselves if they fly further into the shed, depending on what's in there. They'll also mess on everything in panic

The daft thing is there's a purpose built blackbird nest box within 15 feet. I can keep them out of the main shed and I don't care about mess in the woodshed but I can't see it working out. Its less than 18 hours since she started, it would be so easy for her to begin again now whereas there might not be so much time later, my hands however are tied.
We have decided to go about our day as normal so she knows what she is getting into, then if there are eggs minimise any disruption as much as possible. I know blackbirds are having a tough time at the moment and I'd love her to succeed.

You're right. Move it before she invests anymore time. Sounds ripe for abandonment once eggs/fledglings appear. She may just be practicing anyway, blackies often have several attempts.

Forgot to add: the male will do his nut everytime anyone goes near,  stressing himself and the sitting female. Probably leading to eventual abandonment anyway.

Not actually seen the male yet. I've been making my presence known, and keeping an eye on the site and I think she may have thought better of it. I was chopping wood yesterday afternoon and it wasn't there then, and I left the door open overnight so it might have seemed more inviting than it actually is. She can still get in and out with the door closed, but it might not seem so appropriate to her.
I have shared the shed with other creatures before, I'm very much live and let live, I drew the line at the wasp nest in my bedroom, but only after giving it a good try for a few weeks. I want her to succeed but I don't know how tenable it is.
If she was even at the other side of the woodshed I could just use wood from the woodpile in the garden, but i'd have to be within a metre of it to get into the main shed which leads off the woodshed and theres no way I can avoid that.

You sound like a good person. Nice one.

In my experience Blackbirds are quite happy nesting close to human activity. The nest site will have been chosen with care and the accompanying territory fought for over winter, it’s not a spur of the moment “pull the trigger” bike purchase! They probably see it as a safe place where the activity will deter predators like magpies, crows, squirrels and cats. I would feel honoured that I had a nest, especially given the severe decline in our bird population. Leave it be and see how it goes on, nesting now there’s probably time for three broods. They may grumble at you if you’re in the way when feeding but should be ok. Enjoy your good fortune! Post pictures…

Moving the nest is a criminal offence.

Last year we had a blackbird nest in the hedge just by our rear door - about 2m away.

The male went absolutely effing bananas every time we used the door or when the cats (ours and neighbours) were in the garden.

He was especially angry and noisy at dusk, it became very wearing after a week or two!

We obviously left the nest alone, tried to use the back door sparingly, and took to putting the cats out of the front door.

Unfortunately, he became so territorial that he started to dive bomb ours and the neighbours cats, and was eventually caught and eaten ☹️ mum abandoned the nest soon afterwards. 

So you do your best, but it still often turns out crap 🤷‍♂️

and was eventually caught and eaten ☹️ mum abandoned the nest soon afterwards. 

Dunno why but I was expecting a happy ending to that story.

Moving the nest is a criminal offence.

Don't move it, just place a couple of large chicken eggs in it.

You Know Bruce if I was going to be a dick about it theres all manner of things I could do without moving or disturbing the nest. I have no wish or intent to do any harm. I hope its successful, and I am encouraged by knowing that if they do abandon the year will not be a complete loss. I look forward to watching them and am completely happy to be chastised and even dive bombed. I might try to put in a camera before they get settled.
I still suspect they would be happier and safer in the blackbird nesting box we put up thats never been used but there we are.

I appreciate you could do lots of things to disrupt the nest short of breaking the law. I also know its probably not what you wanted to happen and they might be better somewhere else, but birds nest in all kinds of strange places.

At the field studies centre at Preston Montford blue tits nested in a wall mounted ash tray out side a classroom door.

I really hope things go well with the nest and Thank-you for not being a dick about it.

Leave the nest alone and let nature work its magic.

On the wood pile question how much are you going to be burning now it’s spring? Why not make a pile away from the shed, cover it with a tarp and problem solved.

let nature work its magic.

How is nature working its magic by a pair of blackbirds building a nest in a woodshed? It doesn't sound very natural to me.

Blackbirds are not the smartest birds and millions of years of evolution hasn't provided them with the skills to easily adapt to the consequences of an invasive primate species from Africa, as the following comment highlights :

he started to dive bomb ours and the neighbours cats, and was eventually caught and eaten ☹️ mum abandoned the nest soon afterwards. 

In contrast crows are highly intelligent birds able to adapt and even exploit totally unnatural situations created by humans, consequentially crow numbers have significantly increased in modern times whilst blackbirds numbers have plummeted. 

It's fine saying to leave it to nature if the natural environment is free from human interference, but that certainly isn't the situation in most of the British Isles. Which is why human intervention is so important, including bird boxes, bird feeders, and conservation programmes.

As a slight aside - I always put Berts moulted winter coat in a garden tree for birds to use as nesting material. Being from Finland he has a fluffy silk like under down.

I like to imagine the little fledglings being all snuggly warm in their fur lined nest!

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Well this morning the male was there with her on the fence, just back and theres no sign of any progress. I can use other wood but cant avoid using the main shed . I'm happy now tho that if they do go they wont be too late to start again and if they stay we should find a happy coexistence.

In contrast crows are highly intelligent birds able to adapt and even exploit totally unnatural situations created by humans, consequentially crow numbers have significantly increased in modern times whilst blackbirds numbers have plummeted. 

Blackbirds are in decline because of a virus*, nothing to do with suddenly having monkeys in their habitats. And, seeing as every bush, spinney, garden, wood, forest, park and of course wood shed is filled with blackbirds, it's not having too noticeable an effect yet.

*and I'd guess the result of an over-sanitised, over-tidied, over-pesticided country that's wiping out the creatures that the blackbirds live on.

Posted by: RNP

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As a slight aside - I always put Berts moulted winter coat in a garden tree for birds to use as nesting material. Being from Finland he has a fluffy silk like under down.

I like to imagine the little fledglings being all snuggly warm in their fur lined nest!

We have a feeder that's full of Alpaca wool for our birds.

I also like to think of them being all comfortable in their wool quilt.

Blackbirds are in decline because of a virus*, nothing to do with suddenly having monkeys in their habitats. 

Actually the Usutu virus which was first detected in blackbirds in 2020 has been linked to climate change caused by humans.

But blackbird numbers have been mostly falling since the 1970s for a variety of reasons connected to human activity, eg loss of habitat and the introduction of totally unnatural concentrations of predators.

Human intervention to help them rather than leaving it all to nature to sort out is quite reasonable when you consider the dire unnatural consequences that humans have on the environment.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/jul/03/blackbird-numbers-plummet-in-south-of-england-amid-potential-spread-of-virus

Overall, their numbers have decreased by 18% UK-wide since the 1970s due to factors including habitat loss.

But blackbird numbers have been mostly falling since the 1970s for a variety of reasons connected to human activity, eg loss of habitat and the introduction of totally unnatural concentrations of predators.

Human intervention to help them rather than leaving it all to nature to sort out is quite reasonable when you consider the dire unnatural consequences that humans have on the environment.

Very few British birds aren't in decline. We continually get fed the slightly misleading lie that it's down to habitat loss and cats but it's actually mainly down to chemicals of all sorts - mainly pesticide use - killing off their foodstuffs. Not all European countries are seeing the same disproportionate loss of wildlife that we are seeing in the UK. One of the reasons is 'habitat loss' as you say, but the thing that would benefit all wildlife is to leave things a bit scruffy, not to mow, deck, concrete, spray chemicals, weed out unwanted plants. And what's not massively helpful is to manage habitats for the benefit of one or two species at the expense of others.

In short, there's no point in putting up nesting boxes and bee hotels in your garden if you've sanitised and concreted everything else.

I think we're in general agreement though. 😀 

Very few British birds aren't in decline

Which I put down to the activities of a invasive species from Africa. Native fauna and flora did not evolve alongside it. Therefore leaving it all to nature is not an option imo, the ecological balance has been totally screwed.

Bit of an update: After no real progress but seeing the 2 of them around the garden I thought they might have gone elsewhere. I've been using the shed as normal taking care to let anything know I was coming. This evening I was in there chopping wood,just popped out to shut the shed up and there she is sitting in the nest and not seeming bothered by me, kept her eye on me tho.
Im just going into my third week of probable covid and I needed a boost, I'm really happy but also apprehensive, I hope they do well. Not able to attach files so you will just have to use your imagination 🙂

Nice one 🙂 

We had 2 nests in our garden last year.

The robins nested in a Robin nest box in the ivy one the garage wall. This got to them having laid one egg. They then deserted the nest. No idea why.

The dunocks nested in the honeysuckle by th back door. You could not see the nest but you could hear the nestlings calling to the parents. These fledged.

Good luck with your nest 🙂 

A question for those in the know: We've got a bird box in the garden which has had either blue tits or coal tits in for the last 3 summers since I put it up. This winter has ended earlier than normal in Scandinavia, so I assume a nesting pair will move in soon.

Before they do, should I clean out last years twigs and bits? Or leave it alone? Last two years I've emptied it out in the winter (after making sure nothing was living there), but not sure if the bids prefer to re-use what's in there or clean it out themselves.

Thanks!

We used to clean our nest boxes out every year. They are supposed to be for house sparrows  but the only residents have been blue tits. In winter 2023 we replaced the nest box due the rot setting in on the old box but nothing has nested since, inspite of the new box being identical to the old one.

I moved one of my manky, damp and old nest boxes a few years ago. It had nests in it every year, without fail. Replaced it with a brand new, dry, web cam enabled box in exactly the same place. The little buggers have never even looked inside it since. 

The conventional advice (RSPB, BTO etc) is very much to clean out boxes every year to remove damp old nest material, lice, mites, ants, woodlice, dead/mummified nestlings from previous years etc. If you can hit the box with some scalding water too, so much the better,  or something like a bit of pyrethrum powder which isn't harmful to the birds.

But obviously check there's no new nesting activity first, so do it quick before Spring properly starts

I've never worked out why, but since we moved in 8 yrs ago and put up nest boxes not one of them has been used, go figure eh