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Bird Boxes project - Diary
pages - 5th April 2008
The weather during the week has been very warm, with temperature getting up to 15/16C. Shame the nice weather could not last into the weekend. Instead it was cold with some wintry showers.
The survey, this week, was carried out in the afternoon. One some of my walks around the reserve I have seen more activity in the afternoons, at the boxes, so decided to try a survey in the afternoon instead of early morning.
In Zone 1 (Lower Fullingpits Wood) we found two of the boxes, now in use. One was being used by a pair of Blue Tits. No nesting material was being brought in but the male & female were going in and out. The other box was being used by a pair of Great Tits. The male was keeping an eye on the box, with alarm calls heard. The female was inside buiding the nest.
Just as we were finishing the survey, in Zone 1, the weather took a turn for the worst with some very heavy wintry showers. We got soaked and as a result of the weather all the bird activity stopped.
Now wet we decided to check on the old dormouse boxes, and discovered three of them now had moss and grass inside. All three nest were being built by Blue Tits.
In the special diary update, on 31st March, we reported the warden finding a Robins nest in one of the relocated boxes. Carefully looking at the box, with a pair of binoculars we could see the nest was still OK and the female was still going in with some material. We are going to leave the nest alone for a few more weeks before we look at the box itself.
The next survey will be carried out on Saturday 12th April. Will the weather improve with more nests and boxes being used?
Ben
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