We have a nest of almost ready to fledge Blackbirds in a shoulder height nest in our fir tree.

One of them has somehow made it to our water butt at the other end of the garden. It is now hiding there making pitiful chirrups and the mother is feeding it.

The dilemma is, if I leave it there it WILL get killed, either by my dog or the neighbour’s cat. I know the advice is just to leave stranded fledglings but in this case, it’s certain death. It would take me ten seconds to scoop it up and replace it in its nest but I know this can lead to abandonment by the mother.

What would you do? I’m leaning towards giving it a 50/50 chance and replacing it but worry that the mother might abandon the whole lot of them.

Tricky, if you’re that sure it will be killed I’d move it back in.

Find another 23 blackbirds and you’ll have the makings of a tasty and nutritious pie

Chuckling at baked-in-a-pie comment! It is tricky. If I don’t let the dog out, the cat will appear. If I let the dog out, it’s instant death time.

I reckon I’ll pop it back in.

could you not wait until the mother disappears, then pop it back in the nest,. . wear gloves, it will then go back to the nest and just feed them all, ….probably…Bill Oddie i am not

Just tried picking it up and it hopped under the fence into the neighbour’s garden. Oh well. It might be alright – big enough to hop at a fair speed and lots of wing flapping going on.

Put it with the baby robin…….

I know this can lead to abandonment by the mother.

I thought this was an urban myth?

I’d say put it back. If you’re concerned about scents, wear gloves.

As above, hopped into next garden and is hiding in long grass. Mum still feeding it…

Our last blackbird group were totally unfussed about human interaction, I ended up getting right in beside the nest to take photos etc, they knew we were there but just carried on. If one of those chicks had escaped I’d have returned it, no qualms. But no idea if that’s typical behavior, do your lot seem skittish normally?

Yours are late! Our fledged at least 3 weeks ago… and did a similar thing hanging out on the decking and rummaging around (snuggling down!) between the plant pots. We have neighbours’ cats transiting our garden all the time and they survived … well at least the two that I saw did. Leave them to it, the mother will find them from the noise they make and you’ll only freak them out/ confuse her by trying to help!

Could you not introduce some kind of massive hawk that is blackbird friendly but partial to cats?

Just leave it thats what fledglings do. The psrents will continue to feed it.

Its fine to pick them up, if they let you. Baby birds get ringed all the time by humans. However leave baby owls where you find them.

Kill the cat and keep your dog inside, that should ensure the fledgling gets eaten by a bloody Magpie.

I was cutting the hedge the other day and was horrified to see a nest with three eggs in it AND the tiniest little hatchling that could only have been an hour old at most!

I beat a hasty retreat and was please to see the Mother Dunnock return to the nest and kept watch for a few days. Unfortunately we have a couple of Crows hanging around at the moment and I can only think that the fcukers got them a few days later…..gutted!

It was mostly my fault for exposing the nest by cutting back the hedge. 🙁

Rockape63, yes that’s why the RSPB etc recommend you don’t cut hedgerows through spring and summer. We unfortunately had a similar incident being a bit late to cut this year and did the same, retreated and left it be. The blackbirds did fine, even though it was already quite an exposed nest.

Yours are late!

We think our blackbirds are onto their fourth brood this year (the female was collecting nest material again a few weeks ago and we haven’t seen much of her since, and we’ve already had three broods from March).