Welcome to our Blackbird Minisite!

On 11th April 2003 a female blackbird (Turdus merula) began building her nest on the windowsill in the North West corner of the Sensory Garden.

These pages are a pictorial record from that day forward and the raising of the three young until they left the garden.

A little help was given on day 1, (extra support for the nest building in the form of two redundant wooden school rulers that were nailed to the windowsill) to prevent the nesting materials from falling off every time she landed. We wanted her to succeed!
A web cam was set up looking at the nest through the adjacent window so that close up pictures could be taken. The children at school were also able to watch the activities in the nest.

The outside pictures of the nest were taken with two different digital cameras (details in photographs below) and are on set out on three pages:

Day 1 to 18  (11^th April to 28^th April)

Day 1 being the day that she started building the nest, through laying on day 16 and day 18 when there were 3 eggs!

Day 26 to 36  (6^th May to 16^th May)

Day 26 when the young were newly hatched or a day old? (Maybe someone can tell by their appearance and confirm this one way or another) to day 36 with lots of pictures of the young being fed by both parents. They grew unbelievably quickly and we were surprised they didn’t leave the nest before day 36!
When I discovered they had left the nest they were able to fly quite well – being able to fly from one side of the garden to the other and landing on the windowsills (2m or so from the ground). The roof overhangs on three sides of the garden and the height of the fourth side meant they were not going anywhere until they could fly onto the roof. A nice safe little haven for our youngsters!

Day 37 to 41  (17^th to 21^st May)

A few pictures taken in the garden, unfortunately none of them showing feeding by the parents. We witnessed it many times, but the limitations of the digital cameras available prevented any decent shots.

They were no longer in the garden on the morning of day 42 - 22^nd May. The was garden strangely silent, with the absence of their rich chirps which had let the parents know their exact whereabouts, and that they were hungry.
Maybe the parents will return to raise another brood – who knows!

the photographs….

The early pictures of the nest ( to day 30) were taken with a Fuji Finepix A202 digital camera, a quick visit being made to the nest when the female was away. The later close up pictures of the young in the nest (day 31 onwards) were taken with a Kodak DX3500 digital camera after realizing that it recorded a much clearer image at close up range. Both cameras are 2.1 megapixels.

Pictures may be only be reproduced from these web pages for personal or eductaional use only so long as their source is acknowledged.
Images ©trigger designs 2003

Related Links

For species information go to...

Copies of the OBPS Sensory Garden Blackbird Minisite are also available for purchase on CD-ROM.
It is an invaluable science resource that can be used within the classroom without the need for an internet connection. The CD contains all the full size resolution images that have been cut down for the web pages.
In addition, the CD-ROM contains a short mpeg video of the chicks being fed in the nest !
Please use the e-mail links below to obtain further information about ordering the CD-ROM


Oulton Broad Primary School
Christmas Lane, Oulton Broad, Lowestoft, Suffolk. NR32 4QZ
e: obps@freeuk.com t: 01502 565930

Site design and management: ©trigger designs 2003
e: triggerdesigns@freeuk.com