Houghton Green Flash - 2008 review part 2

Black-necked Grebe weekly maximum count 2007 v 2008

Little Grebe weekly maximum count 2007 v 2008

Great Crested Grebe weekly maximum count 2007 v 2008

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I've finally found time to continue my summary of HGF in 2008. By the way yesterdays Ring Ouzel was patch list 108 in just over four years of watching.

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2008 was a good year for the Great Crested Grebes. These birds tend to peak in numbers in late summer when a few juvenile birds are usually present. In Spring there was just the usual one or two pairs knocking around. On 3rd April I recorded nesting material taken into the small reedbed in the corner but I saw little obvious activity after that. On 22nd June the birds emerged from the reedbed with a juvenile on an adults back - it looked to be a day or so old. This is the first time they have bred here! On 25th June a second juvenile was observed and both youngsters successfully fledged! The peak count for the year was 11 birds recorded on several occasions in late summer and early autumn. The numbers present this year were higher throughout by one or two birds than in 2007.

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The Black-necked Grebe season started off in disastrous fashion. The first bird back was on the 13th March compared with 11th in 2007 and 25th in 2006. A few days later a second bird appeared and then a week after the first appearance they were gone. There was a single record of one bird a few weeks later but that was the first wave over! Compare this with 2007 where the birds peaked at 11 in the first wave and were present for five weeks longer. I have no doubt this was due to disturbance from dog walkers - most of the birds appeared to either go straight to Woolsten or to a certain private reserve in GM. The second wave was marginally better with 4 birds present, however this is still below the peak of 7 from the previous year and again in 2007 they stayed five weeks longer!

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The Little Grebe flock builds up in late summer and autumn for moult (as with the Great Crested's). These birds are actually quite rare visitors outside this period. The flock was generally building a week or so earlier than the previous year and peaked at 23 birds (24 in 2007). The main observation though is the rather abrupt departure of most of the flock in early September, around 4-5 weeks earlier than usual. Parallels here with the Black-necks - again I can only think of disturbance being the main cause.

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All told it was a mixed year for Grebes with breeding GCG's being balanced by the poor showings by Black-necked and Little Grebes. Both of the latter are susceptible to disturbance, the BNG's particularly so. My observations of people using the pool in 2008 highlighted:

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Lots more people visiting - I estimate from a max of 7 or 8 in 2007 to upwards of 50 different people regularly walking dogs etc in 2008.

More kids using the pool for swimming and sailing inflatables etc - kids were also observed driving golf birds at the birds

A large increase in litter around the banks

More dog walkers who encouraged there animals to enter the water and even chase the birds.

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So far 2009 for the BNG's looks like a more normal year - possibly the poor weather is keeping people away and thus minimising disturbance. Only time will tell.