Earlier this year, a pair of Blackbirds decided that the back of our bug hotel was the perfect place to build their nest! Four chicks hatched, and two successfully fledged and are still regular visitors to our school garden.
One of the young Blackbirds has become particularly fond of us, and seems to think that the polytunnel is an excellent place to visit! It regularly follows us around, trying to sneak inside to pinch our grapes and have a good scratch around in the soil.
Mrs Nelson came across a fascinating research project looking for old, completely abandoned Blackbird nests, we knew we had something that could help. The project is being carried out by a PhD researcher at the University of Birmingham, investigating how climate change, urbanisation and human disturbance are affecting Blackbird breeding. Researchers are collecting old nests from gardens and green spaces across the UK to study their structure and the materials Blackbirds use, and whether these vary between different environments.
So, once we were certain the nest was completely abandoned, we carefully retrieved it from the back of our bug hotel and have now packaged it up and sent it off to the University of Birmingham.
We’re really excited to be taking part in this project and can’t wait to hear what the researchers discover about our little nest. We will be able to share the findings with the children, which will make this even more special.
We’ve also been invited to take part in another exciting Blackbird project during the breeding season next spring, so we’re looking forward to continuing our involvement and learning even more about these wonderful garden visitors.
We’re delighted that something as simple as an old nest from our school garden can now become part of scientific research helping us understand how our garden birds are responding to a changing world.