Two weeks into the Real Springwatch 2023

Peak District Moorland Group

Day 14

Real Springwatch 2023

In stark contrast to the ground nesting bird nest and egg examples we have shown on our pages in the past - the majority of hole nesting birds, such as the redstart (very bright blue egg) and pied flycatcher, lay eggs which are generally white or blue, this is so that the parent bird can easily see them when returning to the nest.

There is no great need for the eggs to be camouflaged because they are hidden in a tree hole, crack in a tree or in our case an artificial nest box, to avoid location and destruction from predators, obviously the majority of our moorland ground nesting birds lay eggs with amazing camouflage to prevent predators spotting them easily.

When both the redstart and pied flycatcher young hatch they are blind and helpless, this is called "nidicolous", but with our curlew and lapwing they hatch in feather and are far more developed - this is called "nidifugous".