Katy, Daniel and the Bluetit's nest
Illustration © 2023 Susan Fleming
Katy and Daniel’s Daddy is putting up a bird table.
“It will be interesting to see which birds come to our table,” says Daddy.
They put different bird feed on the table like seeds, nuts and fat because different birds like different food. They see a robin, bluetits, greattits and chaffinches. There is a wood at the bottom of the garden and one day they see a woodpecker on the bird feeder. Soon after a red squirrel climbs up, but the birds have eaten all the food.
Katy is very sad that the squirrel did not get anything to eat. Daddy says he will put up a squirrel feeder so that the squirrel can have his own food. Daddy makes a box with a slit at the top and a lid that opens. Very soon the red squirrel learns to push up the lid with his nose and get some food.
A few days later Katy sees a bluetit fly into the squirrel feeder with something in its beak. Daddy peeks inside the box after the bluetit has left and sees that the bluetit is making a nest. So that the squirrel will not disturb the blue tit, Daddy gets a hammer and nails, and nails down the top.
“How can the squirrel get its food now?” asks Katy.
So Daddy makes another box for the squirrel. “I hope another bluetit does not move into this one”, laughs Daddy.
Every day they watch the bluetits fly in and out of the box. At first they bring nesting materials and later food. This is when they know that the baby bluetits have hatched.
The great day comes when little balls of fluff appear at the slit in the box. They are the baby bluetits, and they are daring each other to fly. Suddenly one launches itself into the air and, flapping its wings very hard, it lands in a bush nearby. The other two soon follow. Their parents join them in the bush, and seem very pleased with their babies for being so brave.
Soon they have all flown away, but Katy and Daniel will always remember seeing the first flying lesson of the baby bluetits – and until next year the squirrel has two feeders!