One young couple’s new des res is complete, with the addition of the pitter patter of tiny claws.
That’s because the pair of kestrels who bypassed a more secluded home to set up a nest on the Forth Road Bridge now have chicks.
The fluffy chicks have been spotted by bridge staff, who are leaving them to get some peace and quiet.
Although how much peace is on offer to the family as 80,000 vehicles thunder past each day is anyone’s guess.
The kestrels, nicknamed Mr and Mrs Younger by bridge staff, nested inside a steel girder earlier this year.
They were discovered while workers were repairing steelwork underneath the carriageway.
What’s more, the nest, tucked inside the end of a girder, contained six eggs.
With kestrels protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it an offence to kill, injure or take a kestrel, or to take, damage or destroy an active nest or its contents, the area was immediately cleared.
Staff from Amey, which is responsible for the bridge, were instructed to avoid carrying out any work which might disturb the nest.
In the meantime, a temporary repair on a local defect was carried out quietly so there wasn’t any impact on users of the bridge.
Now a spokesman for Amey announced the happy news, adding: “We’ve been trying to leave our kestrel family in peace as much as possible, but we were delighted to see the new chicks poking their heads out from the nest for the first time this week.
“There were six eggs and it appears that most if not all have successfully hatched.”
