That's life

[Tringa]

We spotted a robin's nest in the garden about a week ago.

It was here in the hole under this tree - Nest by Dave Marley, on Flickr

We were careful not to disturb it - going around the front of the house to hang washing out, rather than the back.

It seemed to be doing well as we saw the adults going in with food and we could see one of the adults and a chick -

rn1 by Dave Marley, on Flickr

rn2 by Dave Marley, on Flickr

This morning it was very quiet around the nest so after a couple hours we had a look. There were no chicks and an egg(we assume a sterile one) in the nest; the adults were not around.

We are sure the chicks were too young to have fledged so we think they have been taken.

The possible canditates are

badger(unlikely because the nest area is undisturbed),
cat(same reason as badger),
pine marten(more possible), or
hooded crow(similarly possible)

We had invested a bit of emotion in the the nest, but that is the way it goes and another animal has benefitted.

Dave

 

[mex]

Ground nesting birds are going to be more vulnerable to predation. If the nest was emptied not long after you took the shot showing the gaping chick, I would say they were indeed predated, that chick looks rather young, but it's more than probable the adults will try again.