The Blackbird's - Stoke on Trent 2007

I noticed activity on the old damaged Blackbird nest in late April and tried to stop any development, fearing a repeat of 2004. The Blackbird however continued repairing the old nest and the first egg was laid on the 7th of May followed by another on the 8th and a 3rd on the 9th. I had previously decided that this time, rather than have a series of photos, I would try a live 'nestcam'. I had this in place and working by the evening of the 8th and all went well until the evening of the 9th when everything stopped working. It was running a wireless webcan type camera and I had no way of checking if the camera or the reciever had broken so I set about sorting a 'wired' replacement. This arrived on the 10th but the Blackbird was 'in situ' so to avoid causing a problem I am waiting until it moves away for a while before setting up another camera..... to be continued...

12th May. The female is still there sitting on the nest and I have no idea at this point if there are still only 3 eggs..... Update Sunday 13th She flew a way from the nest for a short time - 4 eggs! See inset top left on photo...... Mon 15 Just finished test installation of new webcam... should run from the 15th all being well. 22nd May 3 chicks hatch but adsl down so webcam off-line. Photos and updates on next page....

PAGE 2 with updates and pics from 23rd May 2007 onwards...