Picture: James Wilford of Your Music School.
A persistent starling has set up home for a third year running on the engine compartment of a school bus.
James Wilford, principal of Your Music School, Wincheap, Canterbury, which sponsors the KM Walk to School charity, discovered the nest with three eggs in place while carrying out a routine check to the school’s single decker bus after driving it to a farm near Barham, Canterbury where he stores the vehicle.
Astonishingly the eggs survived the journey without turning into a breakfast snack. Just two days later the eggs hatched and within nine days the clutch were ready to fly.
Mr Wilford said: “The mother further proved that she was not a complete bird-brain, as the bus compartment was actually a very sensible place to build a nest, being safe from predators and other prying animals. She even used her newborn babies to keep newer eggs warm while the new born were growing.”
Simon Dolby, from the KM Walk to School Team, also discovered animal life in his Canterbury garden when a family of hedgehogs nested in one of his large watering cans.
Mr Dolby said: "My family spotted baby hedgehogs in the garden and we realised their mum had used a watering can laying on its side to nest in. The babies are very cute."