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.
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What a wonderful find xx
ReplyDeleteHi 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...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful 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?
ReplyDeleteVery Andrew Goldsworthy!
ReplyDeleteWrens are my favourite bird. Never yet managed to photo one though.
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...
ReplyDeleteHi 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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