L.R. Griffen, D. Skilling and R.T. Smith with J.G. Young
The 2015 Dumfriesshire Rookery Census: Including comparisons with the surveys of 1908, 1921, 1963, 1973, 1975, 1993, 2003, 2004, 2008 and 2010
TDGNHAS Series III, 89 (2015), 9(4.65 MB)
A total of 13,135 rook nests in 350 rookeries were counted in the 43 parishes of Dumfriesshire in April and May 2015. Although this represents a decrease of 20 rookeries compared to the number recorded in 2010, nest numbers increased by 785 in that period. The average number of nests per rookery increased to 38; something that has not been recorded during either the period of rook population growth from 1921 to 1993 or the period of population decline from 1993 to 2010. For the first time, no rookeries of more than 200 nests were recorded in 2015, the maximum count being 187 nests (cf. 217 in 2010). The number of rookeries containing over 100 nests increased from 20 to 24 from 2010 to 2015 — the first time an increase in this rookery size class has been recorded since 1993. Although it is of concern that the distribution of breeding colonies has again declined, the apparent increase in the breeding population and the cessation of the historic decline is perhaps a cause for optimism regarding the fortunes of the rook in this county.