25th May 2015
Staff: DWE, JMY, MBR, TMJ, EKP, DHT, MTA
Weather: Sunny
Projects: Hooded Crow, Starling, Skylark, Ortolan, Great Reed Warbler.
Today DWE started up with the latter stages of the Hooded Crow project as he goes around to monitor the success of each of the 30 nests located in April. Today, 4 out of the 5 nests visited were still active, though the chicks were still too small to be able to count the beaks of from the ground.
In the afternoon he was joined by MBR in the ringing of the Starling broods, with a good average of over 5 chicks per active nest this season.
After this DWE went to do the Hammarmaden Shelter Crane roost, though he seems to be a bad luck charm as only 53 were recorded (compared to nearly 500 last week).
JMY & EKP continue to survey the Skylark plots, looking for signs of nesting material and food being brought to areas in order to discern nesting activity.
MTA joins the Great Reed Warbler team as they continue to crack on with the work. Most males seem to be in the area now, though new birds are still arriving in smaller numbers.
DWE