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Whilst most of our nest boxes were successful this spring for great and blue tits, there weren't many young birds of other species to be seen for some time. We only had 1 pair of swallows this year, but they kept disappearing every time it became cold, wet or windy. They eventually reared 4 young, only then making a half-hearted attempt to begin a second brood before leaving.
Blackbirds, wrens and dunnocks didn't do well at all early on, but our 2 pairs of robins both reared early broods. A blackcap pair also seemed to suffer before eventually succeeding very late on.
Over the past 10 days though, the garden has come alive with late successful broods, so we have 3rd broods from both robin pairs, which take advantage of open buildings to nest, 2 lots of goldfinches, 1 greenfinch, 1 dunnock, 1 wren, 1 blackbird and 1 tree sparrow, second brood of 5.
The turtle dove still holds territory in the garden, but I haven't seen any young yet. 2 pairs each of wood pigeons and collared doves keep nesting, but the magpies and crows presumably take the eggs on a regular basis. There is also a stock dove in a conifer, but again whilst the pair has been around since March, still no sign of young. A pair of grey squirrels also raised 3 young, which dispersed after about 3 weeks, so I guess they also take eggs and young. Sheila, my wife says I have to shoot them!
Whilst our barn owl pair was successful yet again and the young left a couple of weeks ago, we sadly found a fresh dead bird in the garden this week. We often see barn owl imprints on the windows, so perhaps this was the problem, but with such soft plumage they normally seem OK. One spring, we had the perfect imprint of a young long-eared owl on the bedroom window. When the young barn owls first begin to fly each year, they like to sit on our bedroom window ledge and hiss loudly, which isn't conducive to a good night's sleep.
We had 2 pairs of jackdaws nesting successfully in boxes, along with 1 pair of magpies and 1 crow. The jackdaws are always interesting to watch because we find that when the young are ready to fly, other local populations come along and circle the garden calling loudly, which encourages them to take off. The problem is, however, that feed costs go though the roof for a month as we end up feeding 20+ jackdaws until they disperse. One of the breeding crows was a rescue youngster that fell from a nest about 20 years ago and was reared by neighbours. We recognise it by it's unique call.
Each summer, we expect to see quite a few young willow warblers, whitethoats, lesser whitethoats and chiffchaffs in the garden as they disperse from the NNR. This year, however, there have been very few indeed, with only the odd willow warbler in particular, confirming the miserable success rate of these birds. Late broods of whitethoats on the reserve seemed to do better though, but most of these birds have dispersed over the past 10 days.
Reed warblers are another bird we often get in the garden at this time of the year, but none so far, although there was a grasshopper reeling on Tuesday evening.
Regards
Cliff
Regards
Cliff
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