Stop Press! The nest is occupied!

You may remember that a few weeks ago, we found that a bird was trying to nest on the narrow ledge above the sink in the outdoor kitchen. We thought it was a robin's nest, because we'd seen a robin sitting on the work surface there. Because the nest kept falling into the sink, the volunteers decided to create a better nesting shelf near the front of the structure, and we moved the nesting material onto it, without much hope that this would work.

Well, we are now delighted to announce that the nest is occupied, by wrens! We've been aware of a wren flying around the area during the last week, and suddenly realised that it's actually going too and from the nest, and obviously feeding young. Hopefully there are actually two wrens, but if there are, we can't tell them apart, and we haven't seen them together. Apparently the male wren sometimes has a hareem, so some wren mums don't get as much help raising their chicks as others. From a brief glimpse, we think there are at least 2 nestlings, but they keep themselves well hidden and we've just seen their beaks. They are also very quiet, and we've only heard them chirping once. We're really hoping to see them leave the nest - we hear that the babies are the cutest thing the bird world has to offer, like tiny balls of fluff with tails that zoom about as they learn to fly.

We'll keep you posted as to how they get on.