Nest Recording and things

Spent a day on the reserve checking the progess of nests we are studying as part of the BTO's Nest Recording Scheme, which along with the Ringing Scheme is part of the Demography Unit (see http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/nrs). First we checked on four Lapwing nests that we have been monitoring. At the first nest the female was still incubating. The eggs had hatched in the second nest a couple of days ago and today we managed to locate the three chicks. The final two nests had also hatched.

Lapwing chick 'hiding'.

Lapwing chicks at this age defend themselves from predators by hiding, which usually means putting their head under some vegetation and staying still, "if I can't see you then you can't see me".

One of the chicks ready for release. You can see mud on its' beak where it has been probing in the soil for food.

The chicks are quickly ringed and released, so that disturbance is kept to the minimum.

We then went off to see what other nests we could find for our project. We soon found, among others, a linnet, reed bunting and dunnock. We will keep track of how these nests progress and send in the data to the BTO at the end of the season.

Reed Bunting nest