Dead blackbird chicks

[paulie]

We have a small path between the house and garage and have grown jasmin across it for a couple of years. This year a blackbird nested in it for the first time and a couple of days ago the chicks hatched. The nest is very close to our back door so we have just tried to ignore them but this morning we found 4 chicks dead on the floor and an empty nest.

I think it is unlikely to be a cat because there was no pulled out jasmin where it would have climbed up plus the nest seemed intact. It would jsut appear as if something has picked them up and dropped them on the floor.

Does any one have any ideas why this would happen or what would do this? Could it be another bird? I may be able to build a bit of protection for next year. Any advice appreciated.

Thanks, Paul