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

Eagle eyed nature lovers spotted the nest round the corner from Leeds University

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.

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.

Source

That's one thrush not in a rush! Bird chooses unusual spot to build home... by a red light

Photographer Jason Senior captured the images of the bird in its home

RSPB has said mild weather in recent weeks may have prompted bird to nest early, but cold snap will have given it a shock

Motorists were surprised to see the bird perched on eggs in between the red and amber signals in Leicester city centre

This bird obviously thinks it has been given the green light to start nesting in January, after it chose a city centre traffic light to build its home.

Baffled motorists in Leicester were surprised to see the bird perched on eggs in between the red and amber signals.

Even more aptly it appeared this early bird had used some Christmas wrapping ribbon to help it make its nest.

Photographer Jason Senior, 40, from Leicester, said the bird had chosen a set of traffic lights in Leicester city centre.

He said: 'There were a lot of people standing around looking at this bird, I suppose it thought it had the green light to start nesting so early.

'If you look closely you can see ribbon from what might be Christmas wrapping in with the twigs in the nest

'I was there for about half an hour and the bird seemed pretty happy and oblivious to all the commotion around it.'

Gemma Hogg, from the RSPB, said the bird was likely to be either a mistle or song thrush.

She said: 'Birds make their nests in all sorts of unusual places, and this isn't the first traffic light nest we've seen - in the past we've had birds nesting in, bins, hanging baskets and even an ash tray outside a pub.

'It may seem odd to us, but it's actually quite common. They see a safe, secure and cosy spot to lay eggs and raise chicks and don't care what it looks like or what the neighbours might think.

'This nest might not seem like an obvious choice, but perhaps the warmth from the lights makes it a sensible one.

'It's hard to tell if this bird is a song or mistle thrush without seeing its chest. Both are early breeders and have two to three broods a year.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2265449/Given-green-light-nest-Bird-chooses-unusual-spot-build-home--In-city-centre-traffic-light.html#ixzz2IcmYgUz3