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Bird Boxes project - Diary
pages - 29th March 2008
Today saw the next survey being carried out and at last some better weather, with sunshine and warmer temperatures of around 11C.
During the survey we found another six boxes in use and even saw some nesting material being brought in.
Most of the boxes in the Kitchen Gardens area are now in use (Zone 5) and we observed two of the boxes having nesting material being brought in, by Blue Tits. The nesting material was mainly of Moss, found nearby.
It is a little early for nesting to begin, as normally Blue & Great Tit's time their nest, eggs and chicks to the Oak Trees coming into leaf. The trees provide their most important food source, green caterpillars. Looking around the reserve it will be another few weeks yet before we see any Oak tress burst into leaf. We will be monitoring the boxes carefully.
Last year (2007) was a bad year for the Blue Tit with around 47% of baby chicks dying, possible due to food shortages or the weather. Hopefully 2008 will be a better year.
With the clocks going forward we went around Zone 1, on Sunday evening, looking for any roosters. As readers will know there is one old dormouse box in use, by a Blue Tit. Nearby is another Blue Tit box and we saw a female enter this box, whilst the male watched from a nearby tree. It is possible that the male is the one roosting in the old dormouse box and the female is using the Blue Tit box for roosting and nesting in.
The next survey will be carried out on 5th April. The results from today's survey can now be viewed/found by visiting the "Survey Results" page.
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