Sunday, March 08, 2009

Crags nestbox cleaning




Many thanks to all those that turned out today, considering the, at times, appalling weather this was a great effort. All the 47 boxes were checked and those with nests were cleaned out , the nests are to be passed on to Andy Cockroft for their contents to be checked for moth larvae, pupae etc. I am waiting for results from three of the boxes but of the remaining 44 there were complete nests in 31, part completed nests in 5, 7 without nests and one we simply couldn't open! The majority of the nests were similar in appearance and were considered to be Tit nests but interestingly there was one nest which contained addled eggs which may have been from a different species, photos were taken and the eggs will be checked against reference books, watch this space, could this have been one of the target species? One of the unused boxes contained Tit feathers and was thought possibly to have been used as a roost site and another had a dead adult Blue Tit in it. It is important to bear in mind that this is the first time the boxes have been cleaned since they were put up in Spring 2007 so they have had two breeding seasons prior to todays work.
Thanks are expressed to Drew Marsh of the National Trust for their continued support and to those that turned out who were
Chris and Daniel Branch
Paul and Jan Johnson
Nick and Sandra Carter
Amy Fitzmaurice
Steve Cummings
Steve Blacksmith
Jane Uttley
Andy Huyton
Tim Walker
An especially warm welcome to Amy who joined us as a result of Fridays raptor awareness evening at Rishworth.

4 comments:

Jeff Cox said...

Looks like some great work went on here so well done to everyone who turned out. Sorry I missed it.

Nick - is there a calendar of planned events available or should I just watch the blog more closely? I could have used my time more effectively (and more importantly stayed out of the wind!?!) by helping clear nest boxes - much better than tramping around the soggy moors methinks.

Nick Carter said...

Work parties are planned at CBCG meetings and circulated via the minutes, they are also posted on the blog. Meetings are held on an "as needed" basis so if you would like to attend any in future let me know and I'll make sure you receive details. The phase 2 work at Ringstone Edge is due to start tomorrow when the contractors arrive on site so I anticipate calling a meeting when this is complete to update everyone and review where we are with ongoing projects.

Steve Blacksmith said...

Checked the egg with strong red spots and it is Great Tit. (They usually have smaller, feinter reddish marks.)

For reference, Pied Flycatcher lays slightly bluish white eggs, rarely with feint reddish flecks. Redstarts' are pale blue.
According to Colin Harrison's book in Collins.

Nick Carter said...

Oh well, never mind! I have been talking with Dave Sutcliffe tonight who commented that the nest of the Redstarts from Crimsworth Dean was also predominantly green moss, kept green he thought by the dampness in the box. Virtually all the occupied boxes I looked in had nests of this description, perhaps different species' nests aren't all that dissimilar after all?