A dearth of House Martins

Not a great deal happening over the weekend. We took a walk down to the Reservoir and around the canal to see if we could log breeding evidence for some species - with the exposed area of the bank increasing, you'd have thought a wader or two would drop in, but no luck (other than the LRP's). Along the canal, a Moorhen was feeding a youngster and Coot and Mute Swan were on nests. Not all that many Mallard ducklings around which is quite surprising. I guess a lot may still be sitting on nests.

What was nice to see were Lapwing chicks in one of the fields - little balls of fluff feeding around the feet of cattle - whilst Meadow Pipits sang from the rushy edges. However I only came across three House Martin pairs on our route through Rishton whereas I would normally have at least half a dozen - surely that can't be it for the summer? Anyway, Starlings and House Sparrows were extremely active bring food to roof-edge nest sites and a couple of newly fledged Sparrows were in the garden today.

Finally, I eventually had a look in the nest box and was delighted to find a Blue Tit sitting - I suspect that hatching day will be very soon now.

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