The Lyons Share

This is no ordinary buoy. For the second year in a row, this life buoy by the side of the lake at Woods Mill has been home to a pair of nesting Blue Tits. What I love about this, is that it shows how opportunistic wildlife is. We have our anthropomorphized opinions on what exactly wildlife needs to survive but really when it comes down to it, as long as something ticks a few essential boxes (in this case, it's dry, difficult to get into if you are bigger than a Blue Tit and near to food) it will suffice. I think we should advise and educate from a 'first-principal', resource requirements approach, rather than a prescriptive and specific approach. Blue Tits don't need nest boxes, they need a dry hole that bigger animals can't get into. I have seen Blue Tits nest in places that have completely surprised me, branches smaller in diameter than your average nest box, holes in walls, life buoys etc. 

I completed the fourth visit of the Woods Mill CBC yesterday. A few highlights included three singing Nightingales (one down on last year but maybe I just didn't hear it, they have remarkable site fidelity), one Lesser Whitethroat, a Yellowhammer and two Little Egrets over. If you would like to learn how to survey for birds, I am running a course at Woods Mill on the 19th and 20th May. You need some prior knowledge of birds and bird song but some tuition will be given on the day to get everyone up to the same level. I will cover Common Birds Census, Breeding Bird Survey and point counts amongst other techniques. To book, please contact Filma Dyer on 01273 497561 or email filmadyer@sussexwt.org.uk and quote my website so I'll know if this works!