Fur's fair

Still no sign of swallows here, although we saw them at the coast at the weekend. Someone told me that they move along the coast and then head inland along rivers, so they should turn up soon.

In the garden, there's a sudden interest in our rabbits. The hutch and run collects their fine hair, which catches in the wire mesh and on spider's web, and at this time of year it becomes a valuable commodity. Sparrows have been dropping by to collect a little, but the most persistent fur-gatherers are the great tits that I think are using the nestbox on the old apple tree. Each morning they are at the hutch, one going inside to collect fur while the other keeps watch nearby.

That nest should be especially soft and warm.  It's amazing just how much material the bird manages to pack into its beak; quite a feat. I'm reminded of those pictures of puffins holding half a dozen fish at a time.   

The Easter bunny

There's some very intense nest-building going on here at the moment. Just around the house there's the old swallow nest that's being refurbished in the garage, blue tits have moved into the sparrow terrace box (why not?) and a pair of sparrows are busy coming and going to a hole in the eaves of the house.

At the centre of all the activity is our rabbit hutch, where one of our pair of rabbits is moulting. The rabbit, a grumpy-looking, flop-eared veteran called Sweep, is shedding fur and it's caught on every surface of the hutch and run.

Of course, the timing of his moult is proving very convenient to the neighbourhood's birds, which are collecting beakfuls of the fine hair. This morning I've spent half and hour watching and seen a wren, a great tit and a female chaffinch all come to gather what must be top quality nest liner.

Nest recycling

Just a hint of movement in my peripheral vision suggest something had flown into the garage. Swallows nested in the roof beams last summer, so could it be the first swallow of the summer? On the first day of April?

Who am I fooling? When I went in to take a closer look the bird in question was up there among the beams, but of course it wasn't a swallow. It was a wren.

For wrens nest-building is a male chore and this particular cock wren has discovered last year's swallow nest and added his own touch, a roof of moss with a neat little entry hole. It  dawned on me that I had noticed bits of dry moss on the floor over the last few days, but hadn't thought to look up.

Now as far as I understand a male wren builds a number of nests around his territory and it's then down to the female to decide which one to use. Will she pick this customised swallow nest? 

And if she does, what happens when the swallows do turn up. It could be interesting.