The first Skylark nest (with chicks)!!
Personel; Teresa, Torben, Lena, Nico, Magnus, Sönke
Weather; sunny all day, 18°C, some wind
Projects; Great Reed Warbler, Wetland Census, Skylarks
The day started with wetland census in the still missing areas for this week.
Fågelsjön: Coot 14, Mute Swan 4, Gadwall 7, Common Tern 6, Cormorant 1, Red-necked Grebe 2, Canada Goose 2, Bittern 2
Åslasjön: Coot 5, Gadwall 2, Red-necked Grebe 4, Bittern 2, Water rail 1, Mallard 4
Löten: Greylag Goose 85 (+96 chicks), Ringed Plover 1, Grey Heron 1, Canada Goose 2, Shoveler 2, Coot 4, Mute Swan 6, Mallard 8, Gadwall 5, Garganey 3, Teal 12, Black Tern 2, Common Tern 1, Lapwing 14, Black-headed Gull 8
Fiskingemaden: Lapwing 8, Snipe 5, Black-headed Gull 27, Teal 3, Common Tern 2, Crane 1, Mallard 9,
Värstamaden: Water rail 1, Lapwing 6, Common Tern 1, Snipe 3, Black-headed Gull 2, Goldeneye 2, Crane 1, Mallard 2
Meanwhile in Ängfallet, Magnus and Torben were checking the area for Ortolan Buntings and Yellowhammers and thereby observed a female Yellowhammer with insects in her beak. So this could be the third nest in the region with ecological farming. Hopefully they will find the nest soon.
After that Sönke, a scientist from the SLU, joined the team to help us with finding skylark nests and it seems that with him, also the luck arrived. It took us a whole day of observation and several unsuccessful tries of kneeling in the high grass turning every single culm, but in the end we found a nest with three chicks inside. We took blood samples of these chicks so finally we have some success to announce. However, the further search for nests in the area around Husön was not so successful. It seems that the birds there are a little bit later in their breeding period.
Lena and Teresa kept on pushing the Great Reed Warbler project. Today they scanned Åslasjön and Fågelsjön again and were able to find two new nests. Additionally they could find a new male bird in the area. But there is still more to expect during the next days.
TLR