Since 1998, there has
been a decline in the numbers of breeding pairs at
Eakring and Kersall. A maximum of four pairs were found
in 1998, but this has dropped to just a single breeding
pair since 2006, after a gradual decline during the
intervening years. Suitable and unoccupied breeding
habitat is severely limited here, but still available.
During the past ten years, just three sites have seen
pairs breed successfully with unpaired males holding
territory for short periods of time at a further three. The Oil Bore Holes site, on the
western-edge of Eakring village is the only one of these
to have been used consistently since 1998, with a second
pair here breeding from 1998-2002. A pair nested at High
Trees (on the eastern-edge of Eakring) from 1998-2003 and
although a male was present there in 2004, there was no
evidence of breeding and it has remained unused since.
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