Another one bites the dust

Checked on most of the remaining Wood Warbler nests this evening. Espanol nest had been predated, no surprise there but the predator was.

This is the first Sparrowhawk predation I've recorded on camera and in fact is the first Sparrowhawk I've seen in my study area in three summers fieldwork. Other surprising things were that it spent nearly quarter of an hour at the nest and the adult Wood Warblers returned to the nest for 15 hours after the predation, with the female even sitting in the nest brooding a non-existent brood.

Swamp bank nest should have fledged by now and the signs were good until I looked at the camera images. The young were clearly capable of leaving the nest yesterday and on many occasions all of them were outside the best begging for food from the parents.

They really should have gone.

Hopefully at least the others got away. The Jay was back at just after 5.15 this morning to check if there were any young still there.

Nursie is still looking after their one remaining chick and Fallen Cedar nest is ok, with 8 day old chicks now.