30 Days Wild day 9- Blackbird bubs

The blackbirds nesting in the back garden fledged early this morning. The main clue to this was the fact that the mother started alarm calling around 8am and hasn't stopped yet. The actual bub was very hard to spot, beautifully camouflaged with its speckled feathers amongst the shadows. My mum eventually spotted it deep in a tamarisk in the garden. Whether it's the only chick to successfully fledge or its siblings are hidden somewhere else is hard to tell.

The mother has been doing circuits all morning, foraging in a small area of garden, alarm calling all the while, only going quiet when just about to feed the bub. She's taken it mealworms, caterpillars and unripe cherries off the tree, but the favourite seems to be the suet pellets we've put out in a birdfeeder nearby.

By waiting very quietly and getting just the right angle we were even able to see her feeding the chick. She had moved it right into the centre of the shrub, sheltered from the worst of the weather. It stayed there for the rest of the day; hunkered down. Obviously it was somewhere it felt safe.