by Sammy Stein

Created on: May 04, 2009

A tennis ball, a bit of grass and the inside of Moroccon outdoor vase - what more could any bird want?

You might, as I did, think of nest materials as feathers, bits of bark perhaps, spiders' web , grass or dry plant material but no, our little blue tit family have decided that they want to; a) go for an unusal nest site and b) choose the oddest nesting material they can think of. We first saw Mrs Blue tit (small blue patch under wing) attacking a bright yellow tennis ball and taking little bits of it away. Then Mr blue tit (larger blue patch) was seen doing the same thing. A while later, while I was clearing the garden for its first spring tidy up I noticed something odd about one of a pair of large decorated vases I have either side of my little Buddha garden.

To prevent small animals going inside the vases I had placed a stone on top of the entrance hole of each because there is no drainage and the sides are steep and I did not want small animals to become trapped. However, one of the stones was missing and when I replaced it, an hour later, it was off again. Going to replace it I saw somethig bright yellow inside - bits of bright yellow furry tennis ball covering. It was bautifully arranged to form a tiny nest and in amongst the material were at least 8 tiny eggs.

Well, what an unusual place to decide to build a nest. It is regularly disturbed because I mow the lawn twice a week, and have been doing so since early March, we have two very curious cats who I am very surprised have not discovered the nesting place and the bird must have had to move the stone in the first place. Then I thought actually, what a clever place for a nest - it is low down but well hidden, no cat could ever get inside the vase and it is sheltered from the elements. Clever Mr and Mrs Blue tit!

My only problem is that I have to leave maintaining my Buddha garden until later in the year because I do not want to disturb or draw attention to the little family nesting way down deep in the pot. I do see the parents going in and out at the rate of knots so I am assuming there have been hatchings. The fact there is not drainage does not seem to be a problem and actually, when it rains very little water actually goes into the vases due to the shape of the necks.

I am pleased the birds chose such a lovely place to have their family- we can watch them going in and out from the house. I do not mind waiting a little while to be able to tend my little Buddha garden- I have the rst of the site to keep me occupied. The only thing will be next year - if all the chicks survive and are as clever as their parents how many vases am I going to need?

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