|
Bough
Beech - Breeding Sucess 2005
BIRDS
WHICH BRED 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 the exception of two pair of Coots all the nests were swamped
by the rising waters. However unless this becomes 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 werte not seen to fly and it must be assumed
that these youngsters perished. A second pair nested on the other artificial
island in Bayleaf Bay. They raised one young bird
which lived an adventurous live.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 |
32 |
10 |
In addition to those shown above a female Mandarin Duck was seen swimming
across the new scrape followed by three large juveniles.
Other species known to have nested include the following:-
| Species |
Details |
| Little
Grebe |
At
least two young seen |
| Mallard |
Probably
40/50 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 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 species 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.
|
