BREEDING SUCCESS IN 2005.

As a result of the lack of rainfall in the Autumn the Reservoir was not filled until March 2005 instead of, as usual, by Christmas.This had a disasterous effect on the breeding success of Great Crested Grebe and Coots. With theexception of two pair of Coots allthe nests were swamped by the rising waters. However unless thisbecomes normal a single years failure is not critical  At present there are some 100 Great Crested Grebe and over 300 Coot present at the Reservoir.

Those species which nest on the articifial islands were unaffected. This year the pair of Common Tern who normally nest on the 'Otter Holt' were unable to do so as it had previously been occupied for nesting purposes by a Canada Goose, they clearly tried on a number of occasions to either drive it off or nest alongside it. Eventually they gave up and nested on one end of Whiteside Island where they had to contend with species such as Cormorant and Heron. They produced two young which were seen on the
island for some time but were not seen to fly and it must be assumed that these youngsters perished.

Asecond pair nested on the other artificial island in Bayleaf Bay. They raised one young bird which lived an adventurous life.Whilst taking its first flight it was seen to flop into the Reservoir about 10 yards from its nest site, it survived for 24 hours either in the water or on the base of the raft before gaining enough strength to take off and fly back to the nest site. Afterwards it was seen for some weeks flying around the Reservoir with its parents.

A pair of Nightingales nested in brambles between the road and the Cuckoo field. This is the first time for many years that this has happened, it is not known whether this pair were successful but as one or two adult birds were seen for an extended period of almost two months and the pair were seen to be giving 'distraction displays to deter Species such as Jays, Magpies and Crows it must be assumed that a degree of success was incurred.

The nestbox monitoring team reported the following figures:-

Species     Boxes monitored        Eggs laid        Estimated young fledged
Blue Tit                    27                    275                    197
Great Tit                    6                      60                      32
Marsh Tit                   1                        8                         8
Kestral                       1                        5                         2
Mandarin                    2                      16                         9
Jackdaw                     7                      24                       12
Stock Dove                6                       23                       10

In addition to those shown above a female Mandarin Duck was seen swimming ¬ross the new scrape followed by three large juveniles.

Other species known to have nested include the following:-

Little Grebe(at least two young seen).   Mallard(probable 40/50 originally but many    losses)                                   

Moorhen(a few young seen)                 Woodpigeon    

Green Woodpecker                             Great Spotted Woodpecker                Swallow                                               House Martin        

Grey Wagtail(at least two young)           Pied Wagtail(probably 40/50 young)

Wren                                                    Dunnock                                            

Robin                                                    Blackbird          

Reed Warbler

Lesser Whitethroat(at least one brood raised in a nest in the Oast Bay)
Whitethroat                                          Garden Warbler
Blackcap                                              Chiffchaff
Long-tailed Tit                                       Nuthatch
Jay                                                         Magpie
Jackdaw                                                Carrion Crow
Starling                                                  Greenfinch
Goldfinch

With nest sites scattered around the Reservoir it is not possible to say with certainty exactly how many  young of each pecies were produced.

With regard to Heron nests the nestbox monitoring team reported a total of 23 nests of which at least 14(probably more) were definately being used. 43 egg shells had been cast from the nests, a habit of  this species, and 1 dead young was found. There is some evidence of the colony expanding as 3 of the nests were in an area not previously used.