Peek-a-Boo

On Monday I discovered a dipper’s nest, not where I might have expected to see one. It is built into the arch of an old railway bridge over the river, not in the river bank itself. I read that dippers build nests out of moss onto rocky outcrops. There was a lot of activity from a pair of dippers around the bridge and I was thrilled to see them flying up to the nest to feed their chicks. I’ve been back today and can now see the gapes of the chicks themselves, at least three of them. They only appear and start squawking when a parent approaches the nest with food. Dippers collect food from the river bottom and will dip right under the water, even sometimes walk along the river bottom, to get tasty morsels. When perched on rocks they will bob their bodies up and down. I am not sure if they get their name from this action or from going beneath the water.

It’s not just the dipper chicks I’ve seen peeking out of nests this week. On a return visit to Dad’s back garden I saw the blue tit chicks, at least two of them, appear through the vent slits.

In the photo below this wee one misses out on being fed this time. He or she does not look at all pleased. I am guessing there are more chicks further back in the vent, especially as Mum and dad are so busy and sometimes both at the vent at the same time.

The other birds playing peek-a-boo with me this week are the buzzard chicks. They are still lying low in the nest but getting bigger, as I see when they stretch out their wings. I am not sure if the photo below is showing two chicks or one with its wing stretching a bit.

Today I could only see the one chick. It peeked out at me with its alien looking face.

It looked very sleepy. indeed in the photo below it looks like it has its eyes closed. The parent was keeping guard in a nearby tree.

My knees are getting nettle stings and my hands are getting covered in midge bites from holding the camera ready to snap when there are signs of movements at nests. But it’s worth it!