An afternoon circular North of Brighouse produced some good views (but not too close) of half a dozen Tree Sparrows, in and around a barn at Woolrow Farm. This is about a mile West of the established site at Jay House Lane, so these birds could either be from that site, or possibly be part of a new colony. The farm is at the end of a very narrow track which leads down to Bailiffe Bridge; map ref 152245
Good record Mike. Looks like they may be expanding their range. I would think that Steve may be checking this.
ReplyDeleteSteve Blacksmith says....
ReplyDeleteJane Uttley and I checked as many boxes at the Jay House Lane site as we could reach with a step ladder on 29th May. Some need a long ladder to enable monitoring.
We were a bit late for counting brood sizes in this exceptionally warm early season, but a summary of the survey is as follows.
We opened 47 boxes, some with great or moderate difficulty. Standard boxes are better.
I suspect the holes are too small on the new boxes for all but the smallest sparrows.
Only one active TS nest. (5 warm eggs)
6 used, successfully by TS
5 new TS nests unused
7 part-built TS nests
1 dead TS brood, near fledging
Other boxes were either empty or in use by Blue and Great Tits
With thanks to Jane Uttley,
Steve Blacksmith
Forgot to say, well found Mike!
ReplyDeleteAt the main site Jane and husband have now finished numbering all the remaining boxes.