This is Doctors Lane Rookery. 51.713712, -1.334874.
It has 14 nests
This is The Greyhound Rookery, Besselsleigh. 51.713712, -1334874
It has 39 nests.
This is Hengrove Wood Rookery. 51.718061, -1.360805
It has 43 nests.
This is Bablock Hythe Rd Rookery 51.718061, -1.360805
It has 21 nest
Ben,
Hope this helps.
I will still look out for more Rookery's as I'm not sure we found the one you were asking about
Hi Alex,
ReplyDeleteMany thanks for all the information. You provided a new rookery to the database! (and possibly another one- I'm not sure where the Doctors Lane Rookery is- the co-ordinates you gave are for the Greyhound, Besselsleigh one). Plus you have provided more recent (and higher nest counts) for the other rookeries.
The rookery I was asking about is at the end of Badswell Lane, Appleton (just as you leave the village and head along the footpath towards the River Thames). It may be that the rookery is no longer there. I have provided a map for you on my very little used blog (which includes the location of the previously mentioned rookery):
http://abingdonbirder.blogspot.co.uk/
The purple circles are the rookeries you found. The red circles are those that have been found in 2014, and the green circles are those recorded in 2013, but with no more data from 2014.
Many thanks again for all the information.
Regards,
Ben
I think the doctors lane one is the one you were talking about or very close. It is at the end of Badswell Lane. Doctors lane is the footpath on the left the runs at the back of the houses in Town Furlong, the lane runs through to the War memorial at the Oaksmere junction. We will look to see if there are any nests further down past the playground into Green Lane.
ReplyDeleteJust curious, on your map, why is the Hengrove one in purple?
We have been watching this Rookery for years and have managed to work out where they meet in the morning before they all go off for the day, where they meet in the evening, where the look outs post themselves and where the edge of their territory is ( ie, how far they chase the buzzards away before turning back).
Best wishes
Debbie
( Alex's mum)
Sorry Ben, just read your bit about the purple and ring rings
ReplyDeleteHi Debbie/Alex,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like the same rookery. From memory last year the nests were in two rows of trees that run in parallel to each other behind the houses in Town Furlong.
It sounds like you have been noting some interesting rook behaviour. I hope you have been noting the information down as it may be useful to publish in the future (maybe as part of a future county rookery survey in 10 years' time- maybe run by Alex?!). Do you have past counts of the number of nests in the rookery? Have the number of nests been going down or up?
I don't suppose you see where they go to roost during the winter? I am currently reading Crow Country by Mark Cocker who describes seeing thousands of rooks and jackdaws going into roost. From his accounts it seems that the birds in certain areas go to certain roosting sites. In order to find roost sites he writes that he hangs around the rookery site (where the rooks frequently congregate) and then in late afternoon when the rooks fly off he notes which direction they fly and doing the same at other rookeries he can roughly triangulate where the roost site is. The problems with this method, as he describes, are that hanging around waiting for the birds to go during the winter can get a bit cold, and also some rookeries are near houses which can create issues with local residents being concerned about somebody loitering! I am aiming to search for some roosts in the area this winter.
If you find any more rookeries, please let me know!
Kind regards,
Ben
Hi Ben,
ReplyDeleteI read Crow Country a couple of years ago. I think that's what made me take more notice of the Rooks that I see around while walking the dogs.
The number of nests at Hengrove rookery have seemed pretty stable over the past 10 years.
We have 5 or 6 cheeky ones that hang around our garden instead of going off across the fields in the day.
They mix pretty well with the Crows and Jackdaws and can be often seen sitting side by side. The only time they are absent is when the two ravens appear, then the smaller corvids disappear.
The ravens are not around at the moment, although I did hear them across the fields a couple of weeks ago, so I'm presuming they have a nest somewhere and will come back later in the year.
There is a small rookery (10 nests) in Wootton, Abingdon 51.7-6308, -1.314460 just outside the comunity centre in the line of trees between the community centre and the main road.
Kind regards
Debbie