Young Birds and what to do if you find them

A couple of days ago I was popping some stuff in to my mother-in-laws compost bin and having a general nosey around her allotment when I heard some chirping. I expected to turn around to watch the back end of a bird as it flew away, but to my surprise it was a couple of fledglings.

I knew what to do for fledglings, leave them as they were! They had a good set of feathers and were very active running around and being noisy before running back under the strawberry plants which was their chosen hideaway. This time of life for fledglings can be difficult; when we are lucky enough to see them at this stage of their life, we can often feel that they need our help and protection and then move them away to a place we think is safer. But this is a normal stage in their life - one that fortunately doesn't normally need our help. I kept seeing the parents hopping on the fence and knew it was shortly time to leave so that the parents could continue doing their job of looking after their offspring.


I would have really enjoyed holding one of them, but knew it wouldn't be a good idea for the little bird and contented myself with taking some photographs and a film clip. I hope that you enjoy the photos and film clip below as much as I enjoyed the experience of seeing this Blue Tit family at such a crucial time of their lives.

To give you an idea of their size, here they are under a normal strawberry plant! So tiny! Then a bit of a close up on the right.





If you are worried about any young birds when you see them as nestlings or fledglings, then check out this great page on the RSPCA website.