Managed at last to get full details of our Pied Flycatcher RAS in the Lune Valley. The total population was down from 72 occupied nest boxes in 2012 to 59 this year. The largest decline occurred in one wood where 5 pairs bred in 2012 but none this year, mainly we think because of tree felling and other work within the wood. Peak population was 76 in 2011 but got as low as 54 pairs in 2009.
Productivity though was good with only three of the boxes failing to produce young and a total of 325 nestling's were ringed by the group. A total of 81 adults were also caught, 54 of which were re-traps. These show the pattern of previous years, the adults mainly returning to the same wood and nestling's returning to breed for the first time usually moving away from the natal wood to other woods in the valley. A few move further though,with two caught breeding in the Ribble Valley and our re-trapping of two females ringed as nestling's in Cheshire and Durham. By contrast a female was caught nesting successfully in the same box as it was hatched.
The oldest bird recorded this year was a male caught 6 years and 10 days after ringing as a nestling in the same wood.
John
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