Naughty Sparrows and barmy blue-tits.

This sparrow is eating a hairy dragonfly.
It was taken in Wales.

Early on Sunday 17th of May morning we were out counting nightingales (again!) I stopped by the Hayling Lake to see if any dragonflies were emerging, and they were! We watched one take it's first flight up towards the trees where it could finish drying off and harden up its skin but a female house-sparrow pounced on it straight way.

Then this week  I had an email from our local expert Ian Dawson to say that he had witnessed the same thing. He thinks it may be happening on a pretty grand scale. I suppose it doesn't help that most of the dragonflies emerge over a short period and from a confined bay in the lake. It also doesn't help that the sparrows from the allotments and the village always hang out in that corner because it's a good place go for a drink and a bath.

Norfolk Hawker by Ian Dawson

The worst thing about all this is that these aren't just any old dragonflies, they are Norfolk Hawkers!

The blue tits in our camera-box had seven eggs which all hatched. Sadly we noticed this morning that there are only four chicks now. We wondered why the other three had died and what the parents would do about it.

We watched in fascination as the parents came in and out every few minutes so we knew that they still had both parents. Four wide-mouthed gaping chicks greeted every arrival. They were insatiable but there seemed to be loads of food coming in and the parents spent hardly any time looking for it..

Four baby blue tits and a lazy parent.

After the chicks were fed, the adult would look under them for fecal sacks to carry off. We think they were also carrying out bits of the dead chicks as they often had feathers in their mouths.

Eventually we spotted that at least one parent was getting all of its food from the bird table outside. The chicks seemed to be able to eat this food, but surely it was too dry? I think that that may be the problem. After a bit more observation, we saw that some caterpillars were being brought in too, so possibility the remaining four chicks will get enough moisture that way.