One singing (relatively quietly) in ginnel (SD468615) between Milking Stile Lane and Westbourne Rd this afternoon. I would guess it is an overwinterer rather than an early international arrival.
15 active Rook nests at Galgate yesterday; 12 in the main rookery at SD480554 and a further three active at an annex by the humpback bridge at SD477553. If it stays at 15 this would indicate a downward trend.
Anyone fancy inspecting their local rookery / rookeries in the next week or two? Please take part in our census. John Wilson writes:
The Committee decided that we should do a census of the rookeries in our area this year. The last
full count was done in 2002 when we counted 2491 nests in 125 rookeries. Some partial counts have
suggested that numbers have declined recently. However, we do know that there have been many
changes in recent years, with many rookeries being deserted and other new ones starting. The best
example of this is at Storrs Hall, Arkholme which had the largest rookery in our area of 168 nests in
2002. Now it has been completely deserted and several new smaller sites have been colonized. Many
rookeries are around villages, Burton-in-Kendal and Holme for example, both have rookeries right in
the centre of the village. The map shows the rookeries counted in 2002, will be interesting to see the
changes this year’s census brings.
So we do need your help, we have counters surveying many of the old sites but local knowledge is
essential to locate all sites especially the new ones. So please count your local rookery or any you
notice elsewhere, between now and when the leaves make counting difficult in April.
All we need is a careful count of active nests and an accurate 6 figure grid reference and a local name.
Grid references can be easily located by using gridreferencefinder.com/os. Please send details of your
count or any queries to [email protected] Thanks so much for your help it is much appreciated.
See map attached.
