The New Forest Biodiversity Forum is supporting the long-term monitoring of breeding raptors through sponsorship of the New Forest Raptor Monitoring Group (NFRMG). Further details about the programme can be found here, and below the team provide a late summer update on the 2024 season so far.
Goshawk
The population monitoring of New Forest Goshawks is now complete for this year. With 60 known sites to check, there is a considerable amount of work to do locating nests, ensuring they are protected from Forest operations, and climbing and ringing the chicks. It must also be highlighted that the atrocious weather this spring and summer has severely hampered fieldwork for a number of species. That said, Goshawk appear to have had a good breeding season and overall we have found a very good number of raptor nests both on and off the open forest, so enormous thanks go to all those who have contributed time, effort, or bits of information that have aided our work.
Goshawk breeding attempts were confirmed at a minimum of 45 sites, plus four sites where only a single bird was presumed present giving 49 occupied sites. An additional 11 sites that have held birds previously were checked but no signs of occupation were noted, or work was insufficient to prove presence. Six sites failed at incubation or with small young. 27 sites were climbed and produced 72 young of which 70 were BTO and colour ringed (37 male and 35 female). 12 further sites were not climbed but successfully fledged a minimum of 21 young (birds that reach ringing age are presumed to fledge), totalling 93 young from 39 successful nests. A further three broods were ringed outside of the Crown lands totalling a further eight young.
A well-grown Goshawk brood
Our first colour-ringed Goshawk chick
Common Buzzard
Currently the group are checking and collating records of breeding Common Buzzard and have sites for 35 nests on Crown lands and a further five just off on adjoining private land. We believe a number of pairs remain unrecorded, and overall these figures provide reasonable proof that numbers are not significantly different to those in the 1990’s before comprehensive surveying was relaxed.
A good brood of Common Buzzard chicks ringed off the Forest
Sparrowhawk
Sparrowhawk numbers are still considerably lower than they were before the arrival of Goshawks. Other factors such as conversion of conifer to heathland, a more open structure to Forest Inclosures, and reduced amount of thicket stage forestry preferred for nesting by Sparrowhawk, are all additional contributing factors to the lower population. That said we have seen Sparrowhawks at a few more sites this year and found nests at five of these. We even managed to ring 10 young from three nests which are the first chicks ringed here since 2009 (when the population was rapidly declining as Goshawk numbers surged).
A New Forest Sparrowhawk brood
Honey Buzzard
Work is still ongoing for this late-nesting species which is notoriously difficult to find when breeding, on top of it being a scarce and elusive bird anyway. The breeding population of this migratory species fluctuates naturally from year to year. Arrival of birds from spring migration was protracted with numerous reports of birds arriving late. Birds from sites outside the Crown lands regularly visit to hunt in the woods and heaths and often account for additional records. Although Honey Buzzard are well versed in finding wasp nests even in poor years, it would appear that there is a distinct lack of wasp activity this year probably as a result of the continual wet and cool weather we have experienced. Whether this has or will affect breeding success remains to be seen. The following pictures are from two nests checked on 24 July 2024 showing the age difference between broods.
A brood of Honey Buzzard chicks at three-and-a-half weeks old
A Honey Buzzard chick about a week old (frog prey in foreground)
Hobby
The New Forest Hobby population remains low. Monitoring is still ongoing as this summer migrant is one of our latest breeding birds. Pairs are again thought to be occupying only a handful of sites and it remains to be seen how many will successfully raise young. We would be grateful for breeding records of this species anywhere within the New Forest National Park boundary to help understand if factors beyond the increased Goshawk population may be influencing breeding numbers.
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