As the post of the 17th May I did the first check of nest boxes on the Bagnor Estate (40 boxes) and ringed a few but many were ready to fledge and were left un-ringed. On the 23rd May I received the ok to monitor the boxes on the BBOWT managed land. On the 24th I visited all the Peaked Hill boxes at Greenham Common (32 boxes). It being 7 days on from the Bagnor boxes more had fledge or were code RF (ready to fledge). The next day, 25th May, I checked the Snelsmore Car Park and Winterbourne Holt Boxes (65 boxes) and found a similar situation except for one box.
When I looked in this box I was faced with a warbler type bird on a cupped nest. It took me a moment or two to realise I was looking at a sitting female Pied Flycatcher.
I quickly closed the box lid and retreated, forgetting to take a photo. I moved about 10metres from the box and began searching the trees trying to find the male who was alarming somewhere amongst the leaves. It was a very windy day but you would think it would be easy to find a black and white bird but I couldn't find it. All the time I kept an eye on the box. After about 10 minutes I saw the female leave the box and disappear into the trees. Returning to the box I found six warm bright blue eggs.I continued visiting the boxes of active nest until the the 1st Jun when he last pulli were ringed. I commenced final checking on the 16th June checking the last boxes on the Bagnor Estate on the 22nd. This was spread over a longer period than intended due to the weather. Below is a breakdown of the outcome of this years breeding.
Below is breakdown of the data. It shows that Great Tits seem to have done relatively well as have Nuthatch, Blue Tit however appear to have struggled. Usually there is an around five to three ration split in favour of Blue Tits
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