This year there is a huge shortage of baby blue-tits. We usually have at least six of the nine nesting boxes in use on the Home Reserve; this year just one box has been occupied, and only six of the chicks have fledged.

Why, you may ask, as there are still a similar number of adult birds around?

Quite simply, there is a lack of food. For some reason, there are very few greenfly around this year - and this is the main diet for the young tits both in the nest and when fledging. Quite why this has happened is something of a mystery? It is however common for adult paired birds to restrict the size of the brood, or even abstain from nesting if they feel there is insufficient food available to sustain them.

The robins have increased in number, the wrens seem to be static as do both thrushes and blackbirds. The larger birds such as the jackdaws have flourished this year, and with the young having fledged just 9 days ago, already the parent birds are relining the nests to get another brood in this year.

Nigel