SBSG - Photographs and Info

Birds and Habitats in the SBSG area.
Photographs and Information.

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Red-breasted Mergansers - at Redmires

This photograph of a female Red-breasted Merganser, with her young brood at Redmires, was taken on 16th July 1986. This was the first recorded breeding of this species at Redmires and the start of a very sorry tale. There had been no hint whatsoever of the presence of Mergansers at Redmires until I was shocked to locate a female with a brood of 7 on Monday 30th June 1986. The chicks looked to be no more than a couple of days or so old. It quickly became evident that they were under-nourished and none survived. Amazingly the [or a] pair produced broods at Redmires in every subsequent year until 1994, didn't lay [or at least didn't hatch] in 1995, but hatched a small brood in 1996. So all in all approximately 60 or so chicks were hatched, but not a single youngster fledged. What a heart-breaker of a story. Last updated 9th April 2000

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