Grey Herons have bred on land we own at least once before. A single nest was noted by Graham Rees in 1986, then containing two young. There were indications of breeding this year with at least two birds seen at garden ponds in February and early March. Kathy eventually found the birds on two obvious nests with a third half-formed above them. There is a possibility of disturbance, mainly due to business activities but we'll try to minimise problems as best we can. Everyone is being very co-operative. Hopefully I can update this post as the situation progresses.
Unfortunately one of the nests was abandoned in April. There appeared to be three eggs in the remaining nest which had hatched by 10th May. The photo below was taken on 17th May.
Not entirely sure how three became one, whether eggs didn't hatch or disaster struck two chicks but today (29th May) there is only one, well-grown youngster in the nest.
The nesting Herons were found during the 1984-88 survey by tetrads. The master sheets do not break the records down to individual years and the individual sheets year by year are not on file due to their bulk.
ReplyDeleteHave since consulted the Pembs bird archive to ascertain the year was 1986 and the nest contained two young when found.
ReplyDelete