Breeding Season 2018

Portugal Wildlife

Breeding Season 2018:

Male Common Kestrel hunting for Mediterranean Pine Voles from the Kestrel Nest Box (December 2018). First sighting of a Kestrel at the nest box ! Fingers crossed the Kestrels will nest in 2019.

Barn Owl Nest Box erected on Windmill Ruin. Ready for the 2019 breeding season.

Juvenile Woodchat Shrike.

Juvenile Corn Buntings drinking at Windmill Pond.

Three Eurasian Otters. Adult Female with two young ones. October 2018.

Three Eurasian Otters. Probably the same pair of Otters seen showing mating behaviour in September 2017. Otters can exhibit delayed implantation of fertilised eggs so that the birth of the young can be delayed to a more suitable season.

Little Grebe with Four chicks, one riding on Adult's back.

Well-grown Iberian Fox Cub.

June: Well-grown Mallard Fledglings.

July: Nine Gadwall Ducklings.

29th June: Little Grebe, probably a female,with (at least) 2 day or two day-old Chicks on her back.

27th June: Two days earlier the Little Grebe nest still contained eggs.

Female Gadwall with Nine Ducklings !

Female Gadwall with Nine Ducklings.

Three well-grown Iberian Fox cubs.

26th June 2018: Saw Female Wild Boar with Sounder of at least Five Mid-size Piglets. Approx 8.30 am.

Part of brood of Nine Gadwall ducklings.

June: Adult Redlegged Partridge with 12 Chicks.

Redlegged Partridge Chick.

Three Little Owlets on Iberian Holm Oak. The owlet on the left is next to their nesting hole.

June 8th: Fledgling Little Owl stood at entrance to nest hole in Iberian Holm Oak, hissing quietly.

Two Little Owlets at nest hole.

After the four eggs were lost from their second nest, which was built in a very exposed position, they have now built another nest in a part of the pond with a lot more cover.

Meanwhile the other adult Little Grebe is looking after their three chicks. Here the adult has just passed some food, likely a tadpole, to one of the chicks.

Adult Little Grebe with two of its three chicks.

Photographed on the same day as the adult with chicks. A new Little Grebe nest with four eggs.

Adult Little Grebe with its three chicks.

Redrumped Swallow nest built on roof of road bridge (under a tarmac road) on the border of the wildlife reserve.

Singing Barn Swallow.

Male Woodchat Shrike singing.

Corn Bunting with insect prey to feed nestlings.

Redlegged Partridge nest with large clutch of eggs.

Rock Sparrows have started investigating two of the nesting holes in the artificial sand bank. The birds have been seen sitting at the hole entrances and also exiting from the tunnels. The birds are also singing from various perches placed near to the sand bank. Hopefully they will nest.

Rock Sparrow on perch in front of sand bank. It often sings from this perch.

Female Common Linnet collecting nesting material.

White Stork carrying nesting material to its nest just outside the reserve.

Woodlark collecting nesting material.

Female Eurasian Stonechat collecting nesting material.

Status January 2018:

The following artificial nesting sites are available for various bird species in the nature reserve this year:

Custom-made Sandbank:

(Located just above Windmill Pond).

Nest Bank with Trail Cameras to monitor any signs of activity

Close-up of Nest Bank - with holes leading to embedded Sand Martin nestboxes and plastic pipes for birds such as Bee-eaters. The rest of the sand bank can be tunneled into by any tunnel-nesting

birds such as Common Kingfishers.

Pre-fabricated Sand Martin Nest Boxes being incorporated into the Nest Bank ; And Nesting tubes for species such as European Bee-eaters (with floor cut out for drainage)

January 2018: The nest bank structure is already being covered by native vegetation on its sides and roof and the area around it cleared during construction is also being covered with herbs and grasses.

Pole-mounted Kestrel Nestbox with wifi live Video Camera feed to office:

The custom-designed Kestrel nest box is mounted on a tall gum-pole. It has a wi-fi enabled video camera pointing into the open nest chamber which is powered by

a battery and a solar panel. The video and still photographs can be seen and stored on my office laptop via wifi.

Wall-mounted Blue Tit/House Sparrow Nestbox with wifi live Video Camera feed to office:

White Stork Platforms:

On Office Roof:

A second White Stork nest platformhas been mounted ontop of the reserve's ruined windmill.

Various other Wooden Nest Boxes mounted on Office wall. Originally intended for a variety of species, including Common Kestrel, Common Barn Owl and Common Swift, most of the nestboxes have been occupied by House Sparrows and Spotless Starlings.