Brian’s keeping away from nest eggs

Brian Fraser had become consistently perplexed to arrive home from a series of trips in his car, a Ford Escort estate, to find a wren waiting for him in his driveway.

Although retired builder Brian, who lives in Old Warden has always liked wildlife and has created two openings for birds to use in his garage, he could not understand the wren’s strange behaviour.

He said: “Every time I arrived back at my house it would be standing there waiting for me to get home, and I wondered exactly why that was. Then the other night I was sitting in the garden having a drink when I saw the wren wandering around in the area behind the car, so I went to have a look.

“I looked up into the arch and there was a fully-developed nest with eggs and everything.”

Brian, who has lived in the village for 12 years has since hired another car so he can leave the red R-reg vehicle in peace while the eggs continue to hatch.

He said: “I’ll be using the other car for the moment as I don’t want to disturb the nest. I contacted the RSPB and they were very interested to hear about the discovery.”

Tom Waters, wildlife advisor at the RSPB in Sandy said: “All birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which would make it a criminal offence to damage or destroy an active bird’s nest.

“We are pleased Mr Fraser has left the nest there so it will not be disturbed.”

For the full story see the Biggleswade Chronicle of Friday, September 12.