I am unsure at the moment exactly what has happened with the Dabchicks. It was drizzling today so some of the wildlife was hidden away just resting which made things hard to fathom. Anyway as I walked upstream past where out ‘new’ Dabs had nested I saw 2 adult Dabchicks, at this time I assumed that they were the 2 parents of our family and I thought the 2 babies were probably resting in the reeds. I went to the Hub where our family have been all the time up to yesterday and didn’t see any dabs at all. This seemed to reinforce my earlier thoughts. I went back downstream but this time I didnt see any Dabs at all, so I went back to the Hub and found our 2 parents and 2 baby Dabs.
So did I see our 2 parents or the ‘new’ pair in the reeds where the ‘new’ pair have been nesting for about a week ? I now think it unlikely that it was our 2 parents as they would have to be reasonably quick to get back to the Hub in the time they did, not impossible but unlikely.
So hopefully we still have our 2 parents and 2 baby Dabs along with the ‘new’ pair of Dabs on the Slea. So it looks like its ‘as you were’ BUT will the ‘new’ pair carry on nesting and try to bring up a family and if they had laid eggs are the eggs still in the nest and ok ? Also will our 2 parents go downstream again to try and get rid of the ‘new’ pair again ? Only time will tell ???
We still have our 2 adult Coots along with a ‘teenager’ and there is still 1 adult on Lollycocks pond, so here is a picture of one of the coots earlier in the year…
Terry