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Leeds Live
Leeds Live
National
Ruth Ovens

Video shows family of birds nesting in Leeds traffic light as chicks hatch during Storm Dennis

A family of thrush have made their home in an unusual place causing a bit of a stir with those that have spotted them.

Rather than nesting in a hedgerow, bird box or tree, the family of six which includes four young chicks are nestled in front of an amber traffic light in Leeds.

Paul Wheatley, on Twitter as @LeedsBirder told LeedsLive he heard about the birds via social media.

He said: "I heard about their unusual nest, so I popped out on my lunch break and got some footage of them.

"The nest is in front of the amber light and when the lights change you can see the parent birds darting to and from the nest to feed their four young. Apparently it's not an uncommon place for them to nest and this pair have been spotted in other traffic lights around the city previously."

He added that it's quite unusual for Mistle thrush to have young so early in the year - the chicks have been born a month earlier than what's deemed normal.

Images of the birds and their nest (S Wyman @humulushead)

When he tweeted the video out he said: "Early Mistle thrush nest on a traffic light in Leeds with 4 chicks that hatched during Storm Dennis. Stormcock indeed.

"But they weren’t sufficiently badass to nest in front of the red light."

S Wyman who Tweets as @humulushead also shared some images of the nest - with one image showing the chicks hungrily asking to be fed by one of the parent.

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