For Spotty and for anyone else who might know whose this nest belongs to?

[Horsewhisper]

We found this tiny weeny nest which had blown out of a thicket of trees in the garden. There were no eggs or fledglings, it was just empty on the ground. It is lined with some tail hair and winter coat from our pony and some hair from the dog! Lots of pollen fluff from the poplar trees, soft green moss and bits of hay. It looks really snug and cosy and is so soft to touch. Any ideas? The small birds we have in our garden are finches, blue tits and wrens. It may well belong to someone else. It would be great to know who made it! Have a lovely evening xx

[suzannah16]

I'd go with wren as it's so small but it looks very snug and cosy.

[Horsewhisper in reply to suzannah16]

It is incredibly soft - I just marvel at how the birdie has created such a lovely environment out of stuff lying about outside! Xx

[svfarmer]

What a tiny little nest x

[Horsewhisper in reply to svfarmer]

Cute isn’t it? It almost looks like a toy one! Xx

[Spotty-ewe]

What a lovely wee nest. 👍🏻

Do you have goldfinches in your garden? I have consulted my book and it says “the goldfinch’s nest is made of dry stems and twigs, and the walls faced with moss and lichen and the well is lined with various fibres, cocoon silk and fluff. The whole nest is 7-8cm across and 5-6cm high and the well is 5cm across and 3cm deep. As a rule the neat little nest is situated in a tree, fruit trees being particularly popular, but it may be built in tall bushes, in the fork of the terminal branches 2 - 10 metres above the ground. The nest has thick walls and at the base it is generally made fast to the branch with fibres.” The picture in the book looks very like your nest. Does it sound about right?

Wrens make a globe shaped nest with a small entry hole. The one in my coconut house has an entrance hole to it just above the hole in the coconut, so I don’t think yours is a wren’s.

I hope this helps. 🤗😘

[whisperit in reply to Spotty-ewe]

Goldfinch is a good call. I might tend more towards Chaffinch, which is very similar. Once a nest has been blown down, they will lose a bit of the neatness and shape, so its very difficult to be sure. x

[Horsewhisper in reply to whisperit]

Thanks whisperit- we have some finches in the garden so it may we’ll be them! Hope all good with you xx

[Spotty-ewe in reply to whisperit]

Totally agree it is difficult to tell, but the size of the nest made me go more with goldfinch. But I’m sure it will be one or the other. 🤗x

[Horsewhisper in reply to Spotty-ewe]

Thanks for this lovely info Spotty! Very helpful indeed and thanks for looking in your book. Yes we do have finches in the garden, goldfinches I think - and I’m keen to snap some pics of them. Interesting that the wrens like to make globe shaped nests hence the use of your coconut shells. I am becoming more twitchery by the day! ❣️🌺😘

[Spotty-ewe in reply to Horsewhisper]

It could be a chaffinch or a goldfinch’s nest - they are very similar. The reason I went with gold finch was the size of the nest which matches yours and is 3-5cm smaller than the Chaffinch’s nest according to my book. But I’m sure it will be one or the other. If you Google chaffinch and then goldfinch you’ll be able to see whether they are the finches you are seeing in your garden. That will also help you identify it.

Happy twitching Horsewhisper! And keep the photos coming. 🤗😘x

[Tykle]

I had a chaffinch nest last year that looked like this so I agree some sort of finch.