Nestbox success summary 2012                                                                                                                                                         

Newditch Plantation

2012 started very well with birds starting to build nests towards the end of March.    
By 14th April 2 nests had eggs and a further 6 had completed nests.
By 30th April 11 nests had eggs and/or birds sitting.
Things were looking good. However at the beginning of May although some eggs had hatched and some birds were still sitting, half of the eggs present were cold and uncovered, tending to imply that the parents had either been predated, or could only exert effort to feed themselves. This was put down to the change in weather.
By mid-May many of the hatchlings were still very small and only 2/3rds of the eggs had hatched.
By the beginning of June the number fledged was down to 1/2 of the number fledged in 2012. The story from other bird boxes was very similar, attributed to both the change in the weather conditions, and the lack of food available for parent birds to raise chicks.

                                                                            Eggs       Nestlings   Fledged

Place totals:            Nests:  11                                   75          50          35

We are hoping that 2013 will be a better year .....