Warnham LNR

Common Tern fledgling

The past week at the reserve has seen many ups and downs. One of the biggest success stories this year has been the Common Tern's which nest on the man-made rafts. We have had two pairs this summer both of which have had 3 young. The early pairs young have been flying round the lake for a few days and have now seemingly moved on to pastures new. In fact we had 12 Common Tern's on the lake last week as another pair of adults paid a visit to us.

On the downside one of the Mute Swan cygnets has gone missing without a trace which is pretty unusual as they are quite big now. We also had the high of finding a Tufted Duckling, confirming the breeding for the first time at Warnham only to find one duckling dead the next day probably beaten up by Mallard ducklings.



Little Grebe

Another turn up for the books was a single Little Grebe which was first seen on Friday and then disappeared over the weekend only to be relocated early this morning. The last two years have seen this species breed on the millpond but neither Little or Great Crested have managed to do so this summer. There have also been 6 Little Egrets at the reserve which is our record number at any one time the previous best being 4.