It is very common to be woken up by the wonderful sounds of our garden birds, but this morning was slightly different...
We woke up at about 7:30am to a ruffling sound coming from the wall. "That must be a big rodent!" I said, as the noise level increased. We then noticed that the noise appeared to be coming from the wood-burning stove (we have one in the bedroom) so Rachel opened it up and there was a Starling inside! The cock bird had presumably fallen down the chimney in search of a suitable nest site and got stuck.
We released it outside and went back to bed, but 5 minutes later a noise was coming from the stove again!! It appeared to be the same male Starling back down the chimney!
Thankfully it has not appeared again yet, but what a stunning bird when seen close up!!
Lets hope that he finds a suitable nest site and partner for the commencing breeding season.