Berberis darwinii - neglected

Just been out to have a squint at the babies in their nest and it's empty. Yes the babies had grown very quickly but surely they wouldn't be big enough to fledge? I discovered the nest about 6 or 7 days ago and the babies had a few feathers but not many from what I could see. The nest isn't damaged and I doubt my cats could have got at it (oh god I hope not). I had a look at the ground below the nest and there is no evidence of anything amiss. Presuming the babies have fledged do they still need the nest to return to for a while? I am realising I don't know an awful lot about the life cycle of Robins! It would suit to remove it......oh had a thought could move it to a Holly tree which isn't far from the hedge so maybe they could reuse it? and they wouldn't be bothered by pruning or path making.Hope you can answer my question @Tetters as you obviously are clued up on birds.

 

Silu, it could well be that your robins were ready to leave the nest. It takes about two weeks for robins to fledge after hatching. You can take the nest away and crack the whip again. It is unlikely that the nest will be reused.
The babies will still not manage without help from the parents, and may still not be able to fly very well for a day or so, so watch out for them.

Learning about the birds - and other creatures in your garden is a fascinating exercise and you may just get hooked. It is great that you care for them.

 

Thank you everyone for all your helpful advice. I will prune drastically 3-4’ and add a couple of small ones I think. It will be just the trunk and bare branches but I don’t mind. Although I am pretty sure there are no birds nesting there I will wait till end of summer after appearance of the autumn fruits as per GC advice. I wonder how long it will take before I have a continuous hedge again...☹

 

Sorry to have slightly hi jacked your thread @dahlia , it just so happened I was having "issues" with baby birds when I read Tetters post. We have so many birds here being in the countryside I feel quite motherly towards them and spend quite a lot of time yelling at our cats when they look as tho they are in hunting mode. 1 cat only seems to catch mice and voles the other one has caught the odd bird which I hate but know it's only their nature. We don't let them out until 10am hoping the birds have seriously woken up and get them in about 6pm which I think reduces the risks to the birds. We have 4 House Martin nests and roughly 11 Swallow nests this year so the racket in the morning (about 4am!) is deafening. Add in Pipistrelle bats and the sky above the house is like a busy motorway in the evenings. Many thanks @Tetters for all your advice. I will move the nest tomorrow just in case ma Robin decides to maybe use it again.

 

No problem, it was quite interesting to read actually and I must admit that it never occurred to me that I should be careful trimming hedges from that point of view as well. I'm going to be paranoid now.

 

I don't think the fruit stays on long, a good bird and bee plant.

Berberis darwinii Darwin's Barberry, Darwin's berberis PFAF Plant Database

A good bee plant[108]. Birds love this fruit and will happily eat it all before it is fully ripe[K]. If you want to experience the fully ripe fruit then it might be necessary to find ways of keep the birds off the plants[K]. Hybridizes freely with other members of this genus[1]. Plants can be pruned back quite severely, they resprout well from the base

 

I have to say, I am happier for the birds to ''experience'' the fruit.

I totally agree with that Martin. In the case of this particular Berberis I would do exactly that. It needs a complete overhaul, and would be well worth waiting for.

 

Blackbirds still feeding voraciously on the berries on my mahonia Charity.
Tetters, are birds likely not to nest in regularly pruned bushes?
Most of mine are pruned annually but have a couple of large hollies that are simply kept trimmed. Birds seem to nest in those as well as in trimmed hedges

 

Our little feathered friends seem to be very trusting. They will nest in beautifully manicured shrubs just as much as wild unruly ones, although their nest building in the spring time can be very rudely interrupted by over zealous pruning.
It`s therefore very much better to allow them to have free reign during the spring months, and give them a little peace. If you want to encourage them to nest, you can help by leaving out bits and pieces that they can use as a free DIY shop. I have coconut shells hanging in various places with dog fur stuffed inside - they love that.....and I have a sneaky suspicion the doormice pinch it too. The ''fairy house'' in my stumpery is really there for a shelter in very cold weather, and has an old kettle wedged in too in case a bird fancies nesting there.
Wrens need to find places in the winter where they can all huddle together for warmth. I think there are probably more wrens here than any other bird.

 

This thread is very informative. Thanks @Tetters and @silu

Have witnessed so much hardship on feathered folk this year (particularly Black Birds and Thrushes) and it's abosolutely heart-breaking. The ridiculously dry weather doesn't bode well

 

Mowerman, thanks....you raise another very very important point. Your birds need water. They need it daily. Not only for drinking, but also for cleaning their feathers. A large but fairly shallow bowl - re filled as often as possible. When a thrush takes a bath there is precious little water left for the next customer. Not just the birds either...bowls of water left out on the ground will attract hedgehogs too.

 

The Mistle thrush in my avatar (Melvin) is to come home here tomorrow morning with two greenfinches. They have been cared for at the rescue I am proud to be associated with, and have played ''mummy day care'' for a couple of times. They are now ready for release, as many more before them. I will let you know how it all goes and see if I can get a quick picture of them.

 

Such a good point @Tetters about helping birds with water. I have no idea how House Martins would make their nests in very dry areas as their nests are made with wet mud. We are lucky because we have a burn which runs past the house. I think this plus the fact that my garden which has huge trees is really the only garden for about 5 miles (rest is farmland) which attracts so many 100s of birds here.

 

I was making House Martins nest the other day , I put them up today