Sunday, April 1, 2012

Last Year's Des-Res...
























We found this exquisite wren's nest in a blackthorn bush beside a drystone wall along the Pennine Way near Middleton-in-Teesdale last week. It's last year's nest and over the winter the moss cladding that the bird carefully wove into its structure has continued to grow, producing a living green dome. The entrance hole on the side looks like it has been used, maybe by a field mouse during the winter.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Claire, what's really amazing is that hundreds of people must passed within a few feet of the nest while it was being made when they were walking the Pennine Way ..... it would have been well hidden when the blackthorn was in leaf...

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  2. Beautiful and enchanting. I wonder if that field mouse will be evicted when the wrens return... do wrens use the same nest year after year I wonder?

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  3. Very Andrew Goldsworthy!
    Wrens are my favourite bird. Never yet managed to photo one though.

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  4. Hi Valerianna, I think they probably won't use it again .... old nests tend to accumulate a lot of parasites. Male wrens tend to build around three new nests at the beginning of the season and the hen bird chooses the one she likes best...

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  5. Hi uphilldowndale, We've got a wren nesting in our garden that I've been trying to photograph but in rarely stays still for more than a second or two...

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