2022 Nest Box and mist nesting survey
I must take this opportunity to thank Charles Downing for the 20 new tit boxes he made last winter, we put them up in February, by May when we checked them, the vast majority were occupied. I must also thank Mark Smith for his help with the new Kestrel box on Rockland top. Spring 2022 was a great year for our nesting birds, a welcome boost following last year's terrible spring when most nesting attempts failed. Last year we only rung 8 young Tits and 1 young Barn Owl, the young Barn Owl did fledge but was found dead close to the nest box in September. As you will see this year we rung 104 young Tits and 8 Barn Owls. Thanks to Charle's new boxes we could have rung another 40 or 50 Tits but ran out of time !
Mist nets produced the following
Wren x 2
Willow Warbler x 4 (one of which we rung last year it returned to Rockland wood having over wintered in North Africa)
Black Cap x 2
Robin x1
Nest Boxes
Blue Tit 94 + 3 adults
Great Tit 10 + 1 adult
Jackdaw x 2
Barn Owl x 8
Kestrel x 4
Our 3 ever reliable boxes at Langley were all used this year, two Barn Owl chicks were rung in the box by the river, one in the box on the lane and four Kestrel chicks in the Kestrel box. Both owl boxes at Rockland were occupied by Jackdaws, two chicks were rung. In May as I approached the new Kestrel box at Rockland, a Barn Owl flew out, I assumed it was a male bird roosting, however when we checked inside the box we found three eggs. We returned in July to find the box contained five Barn Owl chicks two of which were too small to ring.