Nest Record News April 2005.PMD
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A newsletter for supporters of the NEST RECORD SCHEME, forming part of the BTO’s Integrated Population Monitoring programme funded by a partnership of the British Trust for Ornithology and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (on behalf of English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Countryside Council for Wales, and the Environment & Heritage Service in Northern Ireland). June 2005 Number 21 Nest Record Scheme in full flight Welcome to the 21st edition of Nest Record News. As you’ll see heavily at Swanwick for the second year running, with the once you delve inside, the Nest Records Unit has had another very BTO’s prestigious Tucker Medal awarded to David Warden eventful year and 2005 finds the NRS in very rude health. The for his important contributions to the NRS and to other BTO only downside of having so much to write about is that it takes so schemes and four other nest recorders speaking at the very long to write about it, so apologies to everybody for the extended well-attended Nest Records Meeting (see page 15). incubation period of this newsletter! Another great aspect of the 2004 season was the number of recorders who responded to our request for Nest Record News articles. As a result, this edition is packed with information Number of nest records received 1939 about nest finding techniques, novel breeding habitats and to 2004 unusual nest sites all provided by the experts – you. Thanks very much to everyone who contributed and if their efforts 50000 have inspired other recorders to put pen to paper, please send articles for future editions of NRN to the Nest Records Unit at the usual address. 40000 Enjoy the rest of the 2005 season and keep up the good work! 30000 20000 10000 0 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 As you can see from the graph above, over 31,000 records from the 2004 season have been submitted to the Nest Records Unit thus far, a 10% increase on the previous year and the highest total since 1999. We’re incredibly grateful to the 438 people and groups who contributed to this total - yet again, a tremendous effort. If you haven’t had a chance to send in your Alhough the total number of records received annually is currently on the increase, records yet we’d still be very pleased to receive them. Feel the number received for open-nesters continues to decline, even for common species such as Blackbird. The nest finding section of this edition of Nest Record News free to contact us at [email protected] with any queries. (pages 5-8) contains hints and tips for finding the nests of a wide variety of The NRS Forum continued to flourish in 2004, now having species. Photo: Simon Thurgood a membership of over 100 nest recorders (see page 2), and the proportion of records submitted electronically via IPMR RETURNING YOUR 2005 NEST increased for the fifth year running (see page 15). Last year also witnessed the inaugural Orford Ness pullus ringing course RECORDS (see page 16), which resulted in the ringing of over 230 pulli To ensure that your nest records are included in the annual whilst giving participants a chance to experience both nest- totals, please try to return your records to us before Christmas finding and nest-recording first hand. The NRS also featured 2005 or by 1 FEBRUARY 2006 at the latest. The NRS Yahoo! email forum – it’s can add you to the list of members. Once you’ve had an email good to talk saying that you’ve been accepted onto the group, you can post As the NRS Forum approaches its second birthday, messages by sending them to [email protected]. membership has expanded to 116 recorders, approximately Membership is restricted to registered ringers and nest recorders 25% of the active recorders in the country – an impressive and all messages are moderated by the Nest Records Unit so that total considering that by no means everyone has got access to no junk emails can be posted on the site. email. 2005 even saw the Forum go international, with keen If you do wish to become a Yahoo! Groups member (it’s free) Dutch nest finder Peter Alblas joining the ranks. you can also gain access to the NRS Forum website which allows The Forum was set up with the express intent of helping you to browse all the messages that have ever been posted on the nest recorders to exchange ideas and techniques and to keep site at leisure – visit the website at http://uk.groups.yahoo.com, each other posted on the season’s progress as events unfolded. click on the ‘New Users’ link and follow the instructions to sign Thus far, over 350 messages have been posted - topics of up. discussion over the past 12 months include: · Open-nesting species re-using old nests · Marking Lapwing nests · Hornets in nest boxes · Early nesting attempts in 2005 · Finding Woodcock nests · Dead adult birds found on the nest Many thanks to all contributors for making the NRS Forum such a lively and informative discussion group! Staff changes Two members of the NRS team have recently moved on to pastures new: Peter Beaven and Angela Rickard. We thank To be able to receive emails and post them on the Forum, you them warmly for all their hard and effective work in supporting DO NOT have to be registered with Yahoo! Groups (contrary to the Scheme. Angela’s role has been taken over by Mandy the information in last year’s NRN – sorry about that!). Simply Andrews and we hope to appoint a new Nest Records Officer send an email to [email protected] and we soon. Contents NRS Yahoo! email forum ................................................................................................................................................................... 2 Results from the 2004 NRS Analyses .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Recorder’s eye view - 2004 roundup ................................................................................................................................................. 4 Nest finding .................................................................................................................................................................................. 5-8 Lapwings and cropping regimes ......................................................................................................................................................... 9 NRS milestones 2004 ....................................................................................................................................................................... 9 NRS totals 1939-2004 .............................................................................................................................................................. 10-11 Problem children - recording challenges ............................................................................................................................................ 12 2004 weather report ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Submission trends in 2004 ............................................................................................................................................................. 14 News roundup (including Top recorders in 2004) ........................................................................................................................ 15-18 Reviews and requests ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Useful addresses ............................................................................................................................................................................ 20 We are very grateful to Jane Waters for DTPing Nest Record News, to Mark Grantham for help in its production and Bridget Griffin. Karen Wright, Alex Banks, Jacquie Clark and Su Gough for proof-reading 2 - Nest Record News June 2005 Results from the 2004 NRS Analyses Each year the records submitted to the Nest Record Unit are computerised and trends are calculated for a range of breeding parameters, including clutch size, brood size and nest failure rates at the egg and young stages. Humphrey Crick summarises the main results from the latest analyses. House Sparrow: The BTO recently led on a detailed House • Newly detected declines in breeding performance for Sparrow study for DEFRA and concluded that although Barn Owl, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail and Wheatear. decreases in sparrow abundance in rural areas had been caused • Continuing declines in breeding performance for by a reduction in survival rates, subsequent improvements in Bullfinch, Dunnock, Grey Wagtail, Lapwing, Linnet, breeding performance had helped to prevent further population Moorhen, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Willow decline. However, the latest analysis of the NRS dataset Warbler, Yellowhammer and Yellow Wagtail. indicates that average brood size has declined markedly since • More species laying earlier, up from 42% to 48% of 64 the early 1990s and is currently almost an entire chick less species monitored. than it was 15 years ago, a worrying development. Work by Kate Vincent at the University of Leicester has suggested that As the collection of Nest Record data requires so much focus on the availability of insect food for chicks may be limited in the individual nesting attempt, it can be easy to