Leos and Shorties

Top young Leos, M Mail, middle Adult Leo and bottom juvenile Shortie, NCD. Leos First of all thanks to all bird club members who helped with the Leo survey this year. The preliminary results are the best on record, at least as far as I can remember. We found 13 territorial pairs, 11 of these successfully raised a minimum of at least 34 young, probably many more. One pair is thought to have failed due to natural causes and another the outcome is unknown. One other site held at least one adult in the early spring but breeding was not thought to have taken place. Two new sites were found this year and both were successful. Not all areas were covered due to man power and a large wood on our western border was not checked so other pairs may have bred un-noticed. Two males were singing at one site from 15.00PM in the afternoon in early April indicating that it was likely to be an outstanding year, which it has proved to be. Shorties It soon became obvious early in the year with all the voles running around that shorties should have a good breeding season, they didn’t disappoint. We found 11 nesting pairs, two of which raised second broods. Its difficult to asses the number of young raised, at least 20 but its probably double this number. 1 pair fledged 6 young another pair fledged 4 and then had a second brood of two. There were some casualties as well with an adult male and a fledged juvenile knocked down and killed at one site leaving the female to raise a second brood of two herself, how this ended is unknown. Its likely that other pairs bred un-noticed, as not all moorland areas were checked. Once again thanks to all who helped out and thanks for all the voles ! Ps at the time of writing a pair of Shortie’s are still feeding young and young leo’s are still hunger calling at one site, so there may yet be time to find more.