With the majority of summer migrant birds having been back on the reserve for a few weeks now and the weather has improved, we are now seeing our first eggs hatching. Though the weather has in general improved the heavy, thundery rain showers may cause issues for adults searching for food for chicks when they first hatch. However, given the seemingly late strange spring, we are still see birds nest building which may cause them issues later if their eggs hatch after insect numbers have peaked.
Nuthatch collecting food (by Gavin Chambers)
Early signs are suggesting a good year for the number of pied flycatcher pairs nesting in the woodlands but it would appear the number of redstart are down. The weather along the birds migration route back to the UK is the likely cause for certain species arriving in lower numbers than usual or arriving back later (or earlier) than normal.
I recently took the RSPB Cambridgeshire local group for a guided walk looking for some of the key woodland species. We had nice weather and some birds even stopped their frantic feeding and posed for us. The first spotted flycatcher on the reserve this year was spotted along the Yellow Trail but it was some showy tree pipits and redstarts that had us standing and admiring for the longest.
Spotted flycatcher by Norma De'Ath, redstart by Alex Andrews and a sunbathing nuthatch by Brenda Smith
Away from the woodlands we were delighted to hear about a couple of humbugs in the form of baby little grebes swimming around the pond in front of the Centenary Hide. As with other grebes the chicks will often ride on the back of the adults and this was photographed as seen on the Montgomeryshire Bird Blog. Fluctuating water levels have always been an issue for breeding great crested and little grebes on the lake, so the poor wet spring has actually helped keep the water level relatively constant and allowed eggs to hatch.
So now that we are reaching a critical stage in the life cycle of our breeding birds, we have our fingers crossed for decent weather that will allow insects to flourish and adult birds the opportunity to forage/hunt for food for their hungry new borns.
Gavin Chambers, Warden
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