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Crackin' surprise for Greencastle
garage
05.05.09
Bird sets up home in
old Ford Transit
by Linda McGrory
THE Ford Transit work van might be a rarer sight in
the recession, but it's nice to see they're still of
some use to at least one kind of builder.
A Greencastle garage owner got a crackin' surprise
recently when he discovered that an industrious
little bird had chosen one of his old vans to build
her nest and lay her eggs.
Seamus Carey from Ballymacarthur was alerted to the
perfectly-formed bird's nest when his Moldovan
employee, Stas, made the discovery in an old Ford
Transit. |
"Stas called me over
about a week ago and showed me the nest in on top of
the wheel arch. I was working on that old van three
weeks ago and there was nothing there so the bird
must have made the nest fairly quickly," explained
Seamus.
"The next time I looked, there |
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were three eggs in it
and now there are six. It's lovely to see." To put
the nest in context, Seamus says it's about the size
of a man's fist.
"I don't know what kind of bird it is, but it must
be fairly small because the bonnet was closed and it
must have got in someway through the front panel."
The nest appears to be made of a mixture of twigs,
moss and sheep's wool.
While Seamus uses the old van for parts, he has put
it out of commission until the chicks arrive and are
strong enough to fly the nest.
"We'll wait until the chicks hatch and the nest is
not being used anymore before we go near the van
again," said Seamus, adding that his garage is no
stranger to nesting birds. "I have a nest of
swallows in the garage that come every year."
Meanwhile, Greencastle-based Mary Lorraine McHugh,
who sent us the picture, quipped: "In this time of
recession it's nice to see that the birds are
finding new homes for unused cars!" |
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