ST AIDAN’S 2009 BREEDING BIRD SURVEY
The breeding bird survey is carried out by a number of group members, who between them cover the hillside behind Astley Lake and St. Aidan’s and the flat areas between the hillside and the river, including the reedbed area, ridge and furrow, wet meadows and lakes. The survey concentrates on ground-nesting birds and the results are summarised below:-
Little Grebe At least 12 pairs raised at least 23 young
Great Crested Grebe 9 pairs raised 17 young
Mute Swan 3 broods totalling 12 young
Greylag Goose Just one brood of six
Canada Goose 4 pairs with 14 young
Gadwall 12 broods totalling 70 young
Mallard 17 broods totalling 102 young
Shoveler 6 pairs raised 44 young
Pochard 6 pairs, 21 young
Tufted Duck 45 broods totalling 318 young
Ruddy Duck 2 broods totalling 11 young, possibly the last breeding (see main report)
Moorhen 24 broods totalling 59 young
Coot 28 pairs with at total of 81 young
Kestrel 1 pair bred
Little Ringed Plover 3 pairs hatched 10 young
Ringed Plover Only one pair with two young
Lapwing A further reduction to just 3 pairs and 6 young
Snipe Up to 3 bird drumming in June and July, probably bred but no definite proof
Curlew Occasional displaying or calling birds but again no sign of successful breeding on site
Redshank 7 pairs, 11 young
Mediterranean Gull At least1 pair in the gullery but again fledging was not proved
Black-headed Gull c1000 pairs on islands in the main lake
Common Tern Disappointingly none this year
Little Owl 1 pair
Skylark About 70 territories, most of them on the Ings
Meadow Pipit Up to 30 territories
Grasshopper Warbler 1 reeling bird on the Ings
Reed Warbler 8 singing birds
Sedge Warbler 27 singing birds on the Ings and both reedbeds
Reed Bunting Up to 37 singing males, half of those on the Ings
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ST AIDAN’S 2008 BREEDING BIRD SURVEY
The breeding bird survey is carried out by a number of group members, who between them cover the hillside behind Astley Lake and St. Aidan’s and the flat areas between the hillside and the river, including the reedbed area, ridge and furrow, wet meadows and lakes The survey concentrates on ground-nesting birds and the results are summarised below-
Mute Swan Three nests, only two successful, broods of 5 and 6
Greylag Goose Nine broods (10, 8, 7, 7, 5, 5, 4, 3, 3), total 52
Canada Goose 56 young fin a crèche (number of individual broods not obvious)
Shelduck Four broods of 7, 4, 6, 5
Gadwall Three broods of 1, 2 and 2
Mallard Nine broods, total 53
Shoveler Two nests, only one brood of 5
Pochard Four broods of 1, 2, 2 and 8
Tufted Duck Seven broods (10, 6, 5, 4, 4, 4, 2), total 35
Ruddy Duck A late breeding species so broods are likely to have been missed due to access problems, only one small brood seen
Moorhen Eight broods, total 20 young
Coot Twenty-five broods at least, over 75 young
Great Crested Grebe Only 1 pair raised 2 young
Little Grebe Twenty broods hatched 36 young, largest brood of four
Oystercatcher Two pairs on the islands, one young each, two other pairs on territory throughout but no young seen
Little Ringed Plover Seven pairs on territory, only three successful (five young)
Ringed Plover Only one pair known to have bred
Lapwing Over twenty pairs on territory (none on the ridge and furrow) but only four broods seen
Snipe Up to three birds displaying into June, strong suspicion of breeding but no direct evidence
Redshank Thirteen pairs on territory, only three definitely bred
Black-headed Gull 811 nests counted on 7th May, possibly 25% more unseen — i.e. about 1000 pairs, similar to last year. Some late nests affected by the rising water levels
Common Tern Seven pairs on the larger islands (last years favoured island was under water during most of the breeding season)
Red-legged Partridge Four young by Methley bridge
Skylark About forty pairs
Meadow Pipit About fifteen pairs, most probably bred
Mistle Thrush Two broods near Methley bridge
Sedge Warbler About a dozen singing males, mostly on the ridge and furrow area which had a maximum of 21 birds in July
Reed Warbler Three singing males in the reedbeds
Reed Bunting Over thirty singing males
The ridge and furrow area particularly is suffering from a lack of active management. Considering that this is supposed to be the area where declining waders and other birds of wet meadows are meant to be breeding, the tremendous fall in numbers of breeding Lapwings and Skylarks and complete loss of Yellow Wagtails should be ringing alarm bells. The increase in the number of breeding Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings indicates the change in vegetation that is responsible for this reversal in fortunes, with more reeds in this area than on some of the supposed reedbed blocks. Mechanical cutting followed by grazing is urgently required here before the next breeding season The reedbeds themselves are being colonised by Willow saplings, and also urgently require remedial action.
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ST AIDAN’S BREEDING BIRDS 2007
Mute Swan 2 broods 10 young
G C Grebe 5 pairs, 10 young
Little Grebe 7 pairs 4 young
Canada Goose 8 broods, 47 young
Greylag Goose crèche 54 young with 8 adults
Mallard 7 brood 59 young
Shoveller 3 pairs
Gadwall 1 pair 12 young
Tufted Duck 10 pairs 58 young
Ruddy Duck 2 pair
Shelduck 1 brood 3 young
Garganey 2 pairs attempted to breed
Coot 20 pairs, 13 broods 13 young
Moorhen 8 pairs 14 young
Grey Partridge 1 pair
Red-legged Partridge 1 pair
Little Ringed Plover 1
Ringed Plover 3-4 pairs, 2 broods 3 young
Snipe 1
Oystercatcher 1 pair present
Curlew present no breeding
Lapwing 16 pairs, 4 broods 8 young
Redshank 5 pairs, 2 broods 3 young
Skylark 70 territories
Meadow Pipit 15 territories
Reed Bunting 33 territories
Sedge Warbler 5 territories
Reed Warbler 1 pair
Little Owl 1
Kestrel 1
Stock Dove 2 pairs bred
Black-headed Gull 500 pairs est, 500 young many drowned
Mediterranean Gull 1 pair 2 young drowned
Common Tern 21 pairs bred, 24 young many drowned
The June flood killed many chicks.
May disturbance on the reedbeds with reed planting and translocation work had disturbed many breeding birds
