Date: 6th May 2023
Time: from 7:30 a.m.
Weather: dry, cloudy/sunny, light wind, 12°C to 13°C
As I walked between Asda and the A127 footbridge over to Noak Bridge, I came across the nest of a Long-tailed Tit which presumably had been raided and discarded by a predator. From memory, this is the first time that I have ever seen one of these amazing nests.
The nest of the Long-tailed Tit is constructed from 4 materials (lichen, feathers, spider egg cocoons and moss) with over 6000 pieces used for a
typical nest. The nest is a flexible sac with a small, round entrance at the
top, suspended either low in a bush or high up in the fork of a tree
branch.
The structural stability of the nest is provided by a mesh of moss and spider silk, the tiny leaves of the moss act as hooks and the spider's silken thread provides the loops, thus producing a natural form of velcro. The Long-tailed Tit lines the outside with hundreds of flakes of pale lichens to provide camouflage. The inside of the nest is lined with more than 2000 downy feathers to provide insulation. The nests suffer a high rate of predation with less than 20% being successful.
After all the excitement of my last visit to the reserve on 30th April 2023, it was much quieter this morning.
However, I still managed a new record for 2023 for the site, namely Greenfinch albeit a “heard only” record of a bird flying over.
Other highlights during my visit included the following: Common Whitethroat (2 singing males seen at the eastern end of the reserve around the Meadow boardwalk and Meadow Pond), Lesser Whitethroat (1 singing male heard beyond the far side of Meadow Pond), Blackcap (1 singing male seen, 2 other males seen and at least 2 other singing males heard), Chiffchaff (1 singing male seen, 1 other bird seen and at least 2 other singing males heard), Moorhen (1 heard briefly calling on Willow Pond and another heard calling a few times on Meadow Pond although both birds unseen) and Canada Goose (2 flying high over Meadow Pond).
As on my previous visit, I saw at least 3 Edible Frogs in the centre-rear of Meadow Pond engaging in intermittent half-hearted calling and chasing.
I also saw a Grey Squirrel in the wooded near the Spanish Steps.
Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):
Here are some photos from my visit:
Photo: male Blackcap
Photo: Edible Frog
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