4th May 2015
Staff: DWE, JMY, TMJ
Weather: Cold windy morning, torrential rain all afternoon and drizzle into the evening.
Projects: Skylark, Starling Nestboxes, Great Reed Warbler, Wetland Survey, Marsh Harriers and Crane Survey.
DWE and JMY went out this morning to trial the first plots of the Skylark survey. In the 2 plots we identified 7 singing males (3 in one, 4 in another) and we shall switch tomorrow in order to see how closely our results trend.
After this, I did the second check on the Starling boxes around Ängfallet and discovered as expected that the Starlings are now incubating full clutches. Now we will more onto the other area’s in order to survey the full 125 nest boxes around Kvismaren.
TMJ performed a Wetland Survey around Åslasjön and Fågeljön today and reported back that things are getting much quieter, as breeders begin to incubate and migrant waders and wildlfowl move away. TMJ also went out to catch a Great Reed Warbler that reportedly held colour rings. Though she did not catch this individual she did catch a new male.
Finally DWE cycled to Åslaholmen to make sure he knew exactly the locations of Marsh Harrier nests on Kallviken.
Around midday the heavens opened and it rained through most of the afternoon, leaving us to get on with office work and take some strategic naptime.
Finally, DWE and JMY went off to a rather chilly Crane count at Hammarmaden shelter. We counted around 130 coming into roost, not that many by the usual numbers, but more than the other team got going to roost at Fraknabotten (around 60).
DWE