It took me a little while to realise it but for much of May and June a pair of redstarts nested on the viewing tower. These beautiful woodland mermbers of the thrush family normally nest in holes in trees but this pair had obvious returned from their winter travels in the spring to find a huge new structure in their territory. After inspecting it they found a small niche at the end of one of the supporting arches of the viewing platform that was literallly a few inches under the feet of all the visitors to the Moss. The parents became more obvious when in June they srtarted to bring grubs and caterpillers to feed the young. It might have been that the presence of all the visitors actually suited the redstarts as it would have kept away nest predators.
These birds have been declining over the last 25 years and so register as orange on the list of birds of conservation concern. It is a real seal of approval for the tower to have been used by this striking and declining species and hopefully many people have got a good look at them over the past few weeks. The young have now left the nest so we will have to see if they are going to come back next year. But it does make me wonder if we can make the tower more accommadating to other birds by putting up more bird boxes. Something to think about before next spring.
