richarddavis30
Well-known member
There was a red kite over webs yesterday morning at 11.45.
Rich
Rich
spent a pleasant few hours looking for the small stuff. 1.fly 2. fly 3.moth 4 no idea 5. no idea.
early start turned out nice eventually. 1. moth 2. cetti's 3. blue tit family 4. mothy fly 5. i should know this coz i used to have loads of ladybird books as a kid, it does look good for a spec savers advert though!
Alan H reports at the Moors Pool this morning:
2 Little Egret, 1 Snipe, 2 broods of Oystercatcher
Reed warbler nest.. I have been told that a reed warblers nest has been exposed at the Flashes. There is a thought that the vegetation has been trampled to aid views. I will be putting some brash by the nest tomorrow - hopefully it won't be too late to save the chicks. If you do see any active nests please keep your distance and don't move any nearby vegetation. It doesn't take much for predators to find it.:t: john
Janette I think the avocet chicks have more to fear from adult avocets. With so many pairs this year there was always going to be problems when it came to chick rearing. Most years there was a staggered breeding season. But this year there is going to be a synchronised hatch spread out over a week or so. This is because the birds started breeding very late due to weather and BHG pressure on nest sites. As the water level is low and the prime channels weren't desilted this year there are very few good feeding areas. Therefore there will be a lot of interaction between neighbouring families. Yesterday chicks were stamped on by other adults. So even with more pairs it won't necessarily mean more chicks . In fact it could be the opposite. With these observations we will be able to emphasise to the Trust the importance of them making the right decision on future management of the Flashes. :t:johnI spent an hour or so at the Avocet Hide this morning. Having seen that yesterday's log book had recorded 16 avocet chicks, my mission was to count them, but I only succeeded in counting 14 to include the older one with the rest all looking about the same size. Each of the broods seem to be sticking to their own little territory, and I think I can see from JTB's post that I hadn't scoured the far shore hard enough! The adults were chasing the LRPs and the shelduck young, but I didn't observe any real problems between the avocets and the BHGs. The BHGs were raucous as usual and I was looking out for their prey items, relieved only to observe a fish and no birds.
Janette I think the avocet chicks have more to fear from adult avocets. With so many pairs this year there was always going to be problems when it came to chick rearing. Most years there was a staggered breeding season. But this year there is going to be a synchronised hatch spread out over a week or so. This is because the birds started breeding very late due to weather and BHG pressure on nest sites. As the water level is low and the prime channels weren't desilted this year there are very few good feeding areas. Therefore there will be a lot of interaction between neighbouring families. Yesterday chicks were stamped on by other adults. So even with more pairs it won't necessarily mean more chicks . In fact it could be the opposite. With these observations we will be able to emphasise to the Trust the importance of them making the right decision on future management of the Flashes. :t:john