Among more than twenty species so far confirmed as successful breeders on the reserve have been mute swan with 5 cygnets, coot with at least 5 successful nests, willow, blue, great and long-tailed tits, song thrush, robin, chaffinch, greenfinch, mallard, lapwing, moorhen, great-crested grebe, seen carrying young on its back.
Warblers have been particularly successful with young families of blackcap, reed warbler, sedge warbler, willow warbler, chiffchaff and whitethroat all being seen.
However predation by lesser black-backed gulls has affected survival numbers of some water bird chicks. Unfortunately the 2 pairs of common tern, the oystercatcher pair and the little-ringed plovers would all appear to have been unsuccessful after making several nesting attempts. On occasions there were visits from additional numbers of terns and oystercatchers.
Other sightings included large flocks of swift and smaller quantities of swallow, house and sand martin and several pairs of bullfinch. A black-tailed godwit dropped-in and stayed for most of the month and there were regular visits by buzzard, kestrel and sparrowhawk as well as common sandpiper, stock dove and collared dove. Also sighted were several pairs of reed bunting, kingfisher, little grebe, gadwall, great-spotted woodpecker, garden warbler and a juvenile grey wagtail which probably bred elsewhere.
Information collated by Colin Sedgwick
See you on the reserves,
Best regards,
Chris Edwards