I mentioned right at the beginning of April that I had seen a Robin building a nest in an old discussed aviary in my garden.  It was using a nest box which is hung on the inside of the aviary wire and had gained entry through a broken shed door and then gone a through a hole in the window frame where glass had been removed and then flown in to the aviary flight  to get in to the box, There are some photos here,

After I had posted that entry it all seemed to go quiet and I didn't see or hear the Robins in the garden let alone see them going to the nest box before I left for Spain on the 12th.  When I got back to Exeter I went in to the garden to start work on the shed which needs a new roof.  I thought I would check the box before I started banging about and I was amazed to discover that it was occupied and contained a sitting female Robin and 5 lovely eggs.  I have been really careful not to disturb her since and I am not sure whether she has any hatched chicks yet.  But if not, then she will very soon I am sure.  I set up a camera looking on to the box to see if I could film her entering and leaving the nest and after around 2 hours of film she emerged very, very quickly and silently.  On another occasion as I entered my shed to get garden tools we had an uncomfortable encounter as she left the nest box at the same time that I went in.  I quickly retreated and she went back on to her nest.  Then today I saw her very surreptitiously sneak in to the shed through the broken door and then I watched her, seconds later disappear in to the nest box.  I am staggered at her secretive behaviour and she could easily be breading in there without me or or anyone else knowing about it and I guess that is just what  her behaviour is all about.  I am sure that once there are chicks to be fed she will become much more noticeable as she comes and goes with food and no doubt the male will put in an appearance again, but he is noticeable by his absence, as the saying goes.  He must be hiding somewhere very nearby though. During the initial building he would very proudly sing from the tree above and constantly.

I am totally confident that this clever Robin pair will evade the local Magpies who only in the last 24 hours have found, judging by the commotion, the nest of a Blackbird pair who have nested in my neighbours conifer fence. I wonder how many Blackbird nests that Magpies rob each year?  Cats have been a problem in my garden over the years but we now have high fences so it is relatively safe from them now.