18/04 NEST BOX CHECKING GREENHAM COMMON

NEST BOX CHECKING: Greenham Common, Peaked Hill and Aldenbridge Gully
18-Apr-2017 07:30 to 10:00 hrs
Checked the nest boxes at the above today, a few boxes still empty but there is still time, hopefully.
30 Boxes checked and two abandoned for 2017 (one other box is inaccessible due to a cattle wallow and another one I didn't get round to repairing the squirrel enlarged hole.)
Of the 30 usable boxes (2016 numbers in brackets):

• Blue tits Occupied 9 (14)
• Great Tit Occupied 2 (4)
• Nuthatch Occupied 1 (2)
• Nest building, (species yet to be ID'd) 3 (NA)
• Old Hornets Nests 2 (when I checked these last November the nest were still active)
• Nest unoccupied 12 (12)

Some boxes normally occupied most years empty so far and one or two others not often used  are occupied. This is not a good site for Great Tit so it will be interesting to see if they have a higher profile at the other nest box sites when I check them.

The woods are still relatively quiet, I would have expected much more song this time of year.

It is difficult for me to count these days while doing other things but here is a list of the bird species heard/seen here today.