Chimney Noises

 We have been hearing weird rumblings and scrabbling noises in the chimney just lately.  Hazel thought it was me in the bedroom moving the furniture but I was downstairs in the back room . I didn't hear a thing.  But I did later as we watched some rubbish on the telly. It sounded like a squirrel making a nest or an owl maybe?   Hazel was quite alarmed and phoned up the chimney sweep even though it was quite late in the evening. He was a nice man and promised to come the next day to look up the chimney with his torch.  Which he did.  In the meantime he suggested we block the chimney with a board incase the suspected nest came down and all the soot with it. Anyway, he found tell tale twig  in the cavity above the gratey thing - the cowl that you can lift off.  Sure sign of a nest he said and he couldnt shift it until September (RSPB rules ) as their maybe eggs or chicks. But it's probably an old nest falling apart slowly.  .....................Later we went for a nice walk to be outside for a bit - in the sunshine.  The canal looked very quiet and peaceful compared to our chimney.  There was even a boat chugging along - the first we'd seen for a long time..... When we got home we looked at the outside of the house and the chimney - no sign of any birds.  Sometimes we hear pigeons cooing but not today. Pigeons are surely too fat to fit down the chimney pot we pondered?  It's a mystery. We shall be looking up at our roof more often now to catch the culprit. More anon.