Saturday, 2 July 2022

Merlin update

 Merlins, update on merlin brood posted on 22nd June by J. Moore

My wife Jill and myself have watched this merlin site since 2019 and seen them successfully rear young to flying stage every year since then. This year we witnessed the selection of the actual nest scrape which was in a more vulnerable situation raising concern over disturbance and predation. On Thursday 30th June we watched the site for 7 hours, the adults only appeared briefly and no youngster were seen or heard,  sadly we concluded that the site had failed. The weather had been bad over the previous weekend to our visit but in the past after bad weather some chicks had survived, this year there was nothing so predation can't be ruled out. With this being the only known successful site in Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire all possible protection must be afforded to these declining red listed species before they become extinct as breeding species in Wales
Cofiwch y cudyll bach.

Alastair Proud