The Glums are back (to see last year’s brood click here), albeit in egg form at the moment. Here’s a picture from inside the robin nest while mum was briefly elsewhere. Can see two eggs but the clutch will actually be between four and six eggs.
Mum sits on the eggs for 13 days. The chicks hatch naked and blind for about the first five days. They’ll depart the nest a couple of weeks after birth but won’t be able to fly for another couple of days.
The young are tended by their parents for up to three weeks after fledging. Frequently the care of the fledged young is left to the male, while the female prepares herself for the next nesting effort. Robins have two broods a year. Three successful broods a year is not uncommon, and in a good year even four are known.
It’s sad to think that although one robin was known to live for over eleven years, most survive for only two years with the biggest causes being cold, starvation and disease. A robin can lose up to 10% of its body weight on one cold winters night. Nevertheless the UK robin population is doing well. with an increase of 45% since 1970. Providing feed during winter can make a big difference, favourites being mealworms, fat, cheese, cake, biscuit crumbs, dried fruit and shredded or crushed peanuts.
This is the second consecutive brood in our robin nest box since I put it up last year. The nest box needs to be open-fronted and placed in a hidden location in a climber or other such vegetation.
Managed to solve the fruit cage problem of the last update. Hammering in the posts before trimming them down to fit inside the water tubing to a depth of six inches seems to work fine. See picture below of progress.
Almost achieved the unbelievable accolade of holding all the family titles against sons David and John this week. Won the pitch and putt last week, and going in to the last squash game of the month needing to win 3-0 against David did it! He couldn’t believe it either, to the extent that he’s STILL NOT GIVEN ME THE WINNERS CUP! And almost took the month’s pool and darts title on Sunday, losing to David in the play off. At least it proves I’ve still got it in me (somewhere!).
Sort post this week since I’m up to my eyeballs in preparation for the Hill Rise Allotment Association spring newsletter. Going to try it as an on line version this time and see what members think.
| Video clip of Sammy & Izzy on Sheringham beach to follow |
 |
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment