DEESIDE WILDLIFE
Drumoak Bank –
This was constructed in the winter of 2011. In spring 2012 it became fully occupied before it was even completed, with all 40 holes occupied.
I made a mistake in 2013 by adding a corrugated iron roof on top, which made the sand inside dry out so much that occupancy was half the previous year as some tunnels had collapsed. The roof was removed and replaced by grass turf, which lets the rain soak through into the sand, stopping it drying out.
The 2015 season has not started well. It has been the coldest, windiest spring I can remember for many years. It took well into April for the martins to arrive back from their African wintering grounds, held up by the awful weather. When they did arrive back it continued cold and windy, and they obviously found it difficult to find flying insects and delayed breeding.
As of mid-June only about 15 holes are occupied, so the population has been badly hit by a combination of difficult crossing of the Sahara desert, cold headwinds heading North, and a cold breeding Spring here in the North East.
I suspect many have actually starved this year.
Hopefully they will manage still to fledge two broods and recover in a better breeding season next year.
Fishery bank –
This was constructed in winter of 2014. It is a smaller version with only 20 holes, and is a speculative construction, as there are no natural nesting colonies in the vicinity. It will depend on fledglings in the autumn, from distant colonies, familiarising themselves in the wider countryside seeing and memorising the location of the bank before migration to Africa. Hopefully next spring some will locate it and establish a colony.
