Long post for this week but it does have a happy ending
Redstarts and the Cat
Well this year we had black redstarts nesting in the barn just behind a wooden pillar that holds part of the roof up. I did think it was abandoned as there was nothing on the nest which at the time has 6 white eggs in it. But never fear the parents were just out for lunch and soon a pattern emerged, during the night one of the parents would roost, if that is the correct term and during the day roosting was sporadic. As we have a cat with fine tuned hunting ability for anything that walks or flies (can you tell he is French) and as the redstarts were well within jumping height I decided to fence off the pillar to discourage any murderous intentions.
After a while five of the six eggs produced redstart fledglings and whilst the parents were gathering insects I managed a sneaky shot of them with their beaks open wide. So as not to bother them too much we made a wide berth around the area they were nesting but the cat decided that it was his turf and if he wanted to sunbathe under the nest then so be it. This went on for some time and the parents were not unduly concerned until one morning around 6 I could here the alarm cheeps of the parents then a noise not unlike a cat sliding down stock proof fencing.
Nev
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