Half way

Almost as many tetrads have been done as have yet to be done- and three weeks to go.
Its been a bad week- cold and windy, and unsurprisingly most people have not gone out- though I hope the weekend will have been better, and I expect a lot of people will wait until the next bank holiday.

• Birds of the week; This is a good time to prove breeding for these species. I list the 10k squares where they dont have proved breeding status.
• Mute Swan. Not proved to breed yet in ST45, 65, 68, 75 and not even seen in 77.
• Canada Goose. Not proved in ST 35,36,47,57,75,77.
• Lapwing- hard to prove, but should have young now; Only proved in ST46, 66, 58, 68. Surely they still nest in 47, perhaps in 36 and 35, perhaps in 56.
• Herring and LB Gulls are on their nests. Not proved in ST36, ST47, ST65
• Feral Pigeon- look under any bridge and you will find young being fed. Only porved so far in ST 57, 67, 68, 76.
• Blackbird- Not yet proved in ST37- Clevedon. Fledglings are about.
• Young Rooks are being fed in and out of the enst- but not yet proved in ST47 or 66

Halfway

51 tetrads done, 84 to go, and just over three weeks for it. A lot of people went out over the bank holiday, and there were some nice results- Cuckoos, Sedge and Garden Warblers, and Canada Geese goslings.
Rookeries are now pretty well concealed by leaves, but if there is one in your tetrad please make an estimate. A lot were missed last year. Some young rooks are already out on the branches- so that is FL for the breeding status. Ravens are just fledging too- they are far more elusive. Starlings are feeding young- and always make a beeline for the nest.
Keep working on the breeding status of the less common species- and put in Roving Records for any species anywhere if it helps to bring the status up a notch.
Richard Bland