With more data coming in it looks as though our total of occupied nests in our Lune Valley RAS might be ca. 30 up on last years total of 106. On our Bowland RAS one wood has increased from 18 last year to 23 this year to balance this another wood has seen a decline from 23 to 12. The trees in this upland wood suffered severe frost damage so this may possibly be the reason.
In the three woods that I record, all 26 nests have suffered no predation although a Blue Tit nest in one wood has been woodpeckered. Three of the nests close to the exposed edge had some dead young but of the 18 broods ringed so far the average size is 6 young.
Ringed adults caught have followed the usual pattern of a dispersal within the Lune Valley and Bowland areas. But we had a female which had been ringed as a nestling in Powys last year. It joins another Welsh nestling which has nested in our area for the past three years.
John
