One of the first birds you’re likely to see gathering nest material each year is the long-tailed tit. In the UK, the female will usually be on a clutch of between eight to 12 eggs by March, or early April further north, but before that the extraordinary nest must be made.
Construction takes up to three weeks, longer than in most other small songbirds, and the male and female work as a team.
They select a site low down in a thorny bush or hedge or hidden among the tangled stems of a rose or some other climbing plant, then start to weave an oval-shaped ball from moss, adding a small entrance near the top.
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They cover the structure in crusty grey lichen for camouflage, line it with thousands of tiny white down feathers – as many as 1,500 – and bind it all together with spider silk. A masterpiece!
But the most remarkable thing about this nest is that it is expandable, so it bulges to accommodate the growing brood.
Top image: long-tailed tit nest. Credit: Jonas Hanacek/Getty Images
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