Nest box results on a local golf course.

In March this year 20 new nest boxes were installed around the golf course to replace the old ones installed in the early 2000’s that had not been maintained and many had fallen into disrepair. Many of the old boxes showed damage caused by Great-spotted woodpeckers who will open the entrance holes to eat the eggs and young. To combat this all the new boxes were fitted with a metal plate around the entrance hole. The new boxes were installed at around 2 m height to make checking and cleaning easier as it only requires small step ladder.

In early May I carried out an inspection of the boxes under licence from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). The nest boxes were recorded as a nest box scheme with the BTO and all the young birds ringed with a small metal ring with a unique alpha numeric combination. 

Of the 20 boxes 15 were occupied and a total of 89 young Blue and Great Tits were ringed. Three boxes contained young that were ready to ‘explode’ so weren’t ringed. This is an anti-predator strategy as the youngsters disperse quickly when they feel threatened even though they’re probably not fully capable of looking after themselves.

Golf course nest boxes results

Box No.	Species	No. young	No. ringed		Comment
1	Great Tit	4	0		To small
2	Blue Tit	Unknown	0		About to fledge
3	Great Tit	9	9
4	Blue Tit	11	11
5	-	-	-		Empty
6	Blue Tit	6	6
7	-	-	-		Empty
8	-	-	-		Empty
9	Blue Tit	Unknown	0		About to fledge
10	Blue Tit	Unknown	0		About to fledge
11	Blue Tit	Unknown	0		About to fledge
12	Great Tit	8	8
13	Blue Tit	10	10
14	-	-	-		Empty
15	Blue Tit	12	12
16	Blue Tit	10	10
17	Great Tit	9	9
18	-	-	-		Empty
19	Great Tit	7	7
20	Great Tit	7	7
Total occupied		15	Total	89

The five empty boxes were all installed in clumps of trees dotted around the fairways and probably didn’t provide enough cover around them to attract the birds. These will be when the nest boxes are inspected and cleaned in the autumn.

Brood sizes in Blue and Great Tits are dependent on food availability and as the table shows there were some large brood sizes. Blue Tits generally always have larger brood sizes than Great Tits as reflected in the numbers. Both species rely very heavily on caterpillars, particularly those in oak trees, to feed their young. Last year was a disaster for many of our breeding birds with a very wet spring. Throughout the UK bird ringers were reporting broods abandoned and dead in the nest as the adults couldn’t get enough food for them. This year’s dry spring has meant a bumper crop of caterpillars and some good brood sizes.

Blue Tits and Great Tits, like many small birds, have large brood sizes as up to 70% of young birds will die in their first winter. Hopefully enough of these youngsters will survive to be recruited into the breeding population next spring. The average life span of adults is 3-4 years but the record longevity record for Blue Tit is 9 years and 10 months and for Great Tit 10 years and 5 months! 

With two Barn Owl boxes and a Kestrel box already installed on the golf course and plans to create wildflower areas it's hoped to increase the biodiversity for the benefit of both wildlife and the playing members.

Wader spring passage on Hilbre

A few weeks ago I was on Hilbre and unfortunately fell and dislocated my shoulder as well as ending up with an internal bleed that manifested itself a week later and anther two days in hospital.  Thanks to Steve, Chris and the RNLI crew who rescued me I'm fortunately now on the mend  - albeit slowly with a full recovery projected between 12-16 weeks. My shoulder was put back in by two Dr's at Arrowe Park Hospital whilst I was as high as a kite on pethidine. The lads also drove my Landrover off the island for me and dropped it off at home later! Thankfully I didn't land on my head although my wife said I probably wouldn't have injured myself so much! This also meant I had to cancel my long awaited trip to Iceland to catch and flag Red Knot on the way to their Arctic breeding grounds

Before this incident I was enjoying photographing various wader species roosting over Hilbre over the high tide before heading north to their breeding grounds. The Dunlin in particular were looking very smart!

Whimbrel

Dunlin

Ringed Plover

The island was beginning to look at its spring best with a sea of pink Thrift beginning to flower. With sunny skies, sparkling seas and a sea of pink it was a stunning vista.

The resident birds are in full breeding swing and it was nice to see several of our colour ringed Rock Pipits either carrying food or nesting material. 

CAF was ringed as a recently fledged juvenile (3JP) on 4th October 2023 before subsequently being seen several times on the mainland at Meols before returning to Hilbre in the spring of 2024 to presumably breed. It overwintered on the mainland at Hoylake where it was seen as late as February this year. It's now back on Hilbre presumed breeding again. 

Starlings

I don't get many Starlings in my garden but had the opportunity to see a few in the hand whilst doing some ringing permit assessments with Jane in her garden. The adults were swarming around catching St Marks flys on the bushes in her garden and several found themselves in a mist net.

During the breeding season adult Starlings are easily sexed as, with real stereotyping, females have pink bases to the bill and males have blue.  With really good views it can be seen that the females also have pale ring surrounding the iris whilst the males have a completely dark eye.

Above and below: female Starling with pink base to bill and pale ring surrounding pupil

Male Starling with blue base to bill and solidly dark eye

Many thanks to Jane for her hospitality once again.