“A bird has nested in our tractor here in Co Wicklow,” dairy farmer Joe O’Neil told RTÉ Radio One’s The Ray D’Arcy Show.

The discovery was made a few days ago when Joe’s uncle Paddy O’Neil went to use their 1984 Massey Ferguson 699 and noticed grass at the side of the engine.

Underneath the bonnet he found an empty nest. He left the nest undisturbed and moved the tractor to split some logs.

However, by the next day the wagtail had returned and was found sitting on the nest.

Tractor won’t be moved

“It’s an 1984 tractor, it’s not one of the modern ones that would be completely sealed up so there’s loads of ways of getting in and out. It’s very sheltered, she’s completely covered over,” Joe explained.

Joe runs the family dairy farm along with his uncle Paddy in Stratford-on-Slaney, Co Wicklow, and said the tractor is the bird’s for the time being and won’t be moved until she has hatched her eggs and they fly the nest.

“We share machinery so we have a second tractor a little bit older than Paddy’s one, so we can tip around and do our few jobs.

“She has squatter’s rights now. She will remain undisturbed now anyway until all is done,” he said.

The perfect spot

Eric Dempsey from Birds Ireland explained that the cab of a tractor is the perfect spot for a bird like the wagtail.

“She would have been building that over several days and the chances are she would have been building that when the tractor was parked up. A tractor is a classic place for them to nest,” he said.

The bird will be sitting on the eggs for at least two weeks and then the young will stay for another two weeks, depending on the amount of food that’s available.

“It’s wonderful that people take that kind of interest firstly and decide not to move the tractor. A lot of our birds are under pressure – simple little things like that are heart warming and they make a real difference,” Eric said.