Common Tern chicks still alive!
Yes, 10 days on from our first Common Terns hatching young, we can report that the chicks are still alive! It's a difficult struggle for any of the young of anything breeding on the reserve, as everything finds itself on a lower rung of the food chain ladder. The average fledging age for Common Tern, ie when the young can fly, is around 26 days. So just over two weeks to go, fingers crossed.
It's worth reporting that at least one fledged Avocet chick was with a group of adults out on Sunley's Marsh today. Most of this years Avocet chicks were predated by Grey Heron. Some recently hatched chicks are out on Woodend Marsh close to the terns. Perhaps this proximity will prove useful and lucky. It is sometimes the case that later broods stand a better chance if the predators have already reared young.
Although it did feel 'rare' today with a weather front moving west across the previous warm airflow we had no reports of anything unusual on the reserve. The only obvious migrant new in today was a single breeding plumage Dunlin on Woodend Marsh. Some very smart looking breeding plumage Black-tailed Godwit are also on site perhaps already returned from Iceland.
A small group of Nemophora degeerella were 'dancing' above the path about half way between the in focus shop and the Raines Observatory. This longhorn moth is one of around 560 species of moth recorded on the reserve.
Also this morning a tree climbing Stoat some 25 feet up in an Ivy covered tree along the Nature Trail, picked up due to the alarm calls of birds!
