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COLIN Brinkman with the van where he found a robin’s nest
COLIN Brinkman with the van where he found a robin’s nest
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A robin's nest ... on the roof of a van

Ailsa Cranna
15/ 5/2008

A BUSINESSMAN has been left in a flap after a robin turned his van into a mobile home.

Twice in the last year Colin Brinkman has found a nest, complete with eggs ready for hatching, on the top of a delivery van at Chat Moss Herbs, on Barton Moss.

Each time he has removed the nest to the safety of a nearby hedge but the robin has not returned and the eggs have failed to hatch.

Colin, 63, said: "I don’t know why the robin keeps doing this - you think it would have taken the hint the first time its nest disappeared but apparently it has become attached to us.

"I wish it wasn’t because it’s really sad when the eggs don’t hatch, despite the nest being moved to a nearby hedge where it is clearly visible to the parent bird.

"The problem is this particular van goes out at 5.30am to the market, comes back at 7.30am, and is on the road from 11.30am to 5pm, delivery to Bradford and Leeds.

"So if the robin has flown off to get food, its nest is not likely to be there when it gets back and that’s when it abandons the eggs altogether.

"When it happened last year I thought it was a one-off so I was completely stunned when the same bird - and I’m sure it is the same one - did it again this year.

"If I still had budgerigars, I would’ve immediately put the two robin eggs in with the nesting mums and hoped for the best, but I gave up breeding budgerigars 10 years ago.

"I’m hoping that this is the last time the robin uses the van as a nesting site because it is upsetting when we can’t save the eggs.

"We’d love to see the robin successfully raising its young elsewhere on our land."

Colin runs his businesses on a site surrounded by wildlife, and at this time of year can watch a wide variety of birds such as herons and swallows raising their young - usually with more success than the thwarted robin.


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Most recent 2 of 2 user comments

   Big question marks here with this story. I have never seen a robin with a yellow beak,or a male blackbird with a red chest.( Not in this country) also at what speed does this van drive around at, to be able to keep a a nest on it's roof. Sorry, I find it a bit hard to believe this story
Will Scarlet, Worsley
19/05/2008 at 16:57
   American robins nesting on Barton Moss! Have the twitchers been informed? I can't believe that with all the pictures of British robins to choose from you chose an American robin.
Clare6
19/05/2008 at 13:30
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