Breeding Birds successes and failures.

I sponsor a couple of RSPB nestboxes at RSPB Nagshead and RSPB Rye Meads. This year nothing used my boxes, talk about ungrateful eh!

Anyway every year you get a reserve report and the one from Nagshead tells the story of how the weather affected woodland/garden breeding birds.

It shows the summary for species of bird Pied Flycatcher, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Nuthatch. All species laid their first egg considerably earlier (If you remember April was a rather warm month.).

There were 41 (29 last year) pairs of Pied Flycathcer which laid 259 eggs (191 last year) however clutch size was lower and the total eggs hatched was 173 (175) amd the total number fledged was only 86 (160) giving a percentage success of egg to fledge of 33.2 (82.5).

Blue Tits also had a disastrous year with 156 pairs (161) laying 1204 egggs (1314). Only 247 fledged (991) giving a percentage success of egg to fledge of 20.5 (75.4).

Great Tits also had a bad year. Nuthatches didn't seem so affected.

I presume the failures illustrated above were due to the poor weather just when the birds were out seeking food.

At Rye Meads a pair of Redshank nested on a tern raft!! The young Redshanks managed to get through the fencing survive attack from a nearby nesting Little Grebe and across the lagoon to safety. Nesting Resdshank at Rye Meads were the highest since 1964 (4 pairs on the wet marsh).