Weather: Starting clear but clouding over, breezy WSW
Ringers: LL, GK & AK, CMS
Nets: 540' 05:15 - 11:15am
An excellent session with 106 birds caught in the CES nets. We were busy from the first net round at 5:30am with lots of chiffchaff, reed warblers and wrens and we quickly realised it was going to continue. With Claire ringing and Gabor continually clearing the nets we kept on top of things although the wren head&bill measurements went by the board! We had the company of Gabor's wife which made a nice change. The species mix was a bit limited, we seem to be short of blackcaps and robins and we did not have any larger birds at all but we did get a couple of new treecreepers and three willow warblers - one adult in full wing and body moult.
The breeding season is still in progress though, we caught some very recently fledged chiffchaff and reed warblers and Gabor found a Sedge Warbler nest in the edge of the reed bed with 4 chicks and with fantastic luck they were just the right age for ringing.
 |
| Sedge Warbler brood of four |
The long-tail tits were in wing moult and one retrapped lotti was originally ringed in 2011 and not caught since 2012. The Goldcrest that we caught in CES 8 that was just starting head moult was retrapped and it was interesting to see how far his post-juv moult had progressed in two weeks.
The great tit juveniles did not show any sign of post-juv moult yet and are the latest 3JJ great tits we have ever recorded.
The reed bed is very lush and Great Willowherb is growing in the dryer parts, we also found a smaller type of willowherb growing in the rides which has been identified as Short-fruited Willowherb which is less common.
With rain clouds threatening for the last few hours of the session we did not hang around in taking the nets down as soon as the time was up. The first rain drops came as we got in the cars - perfect timing!
Lynne
Species
|
Row Summary
|
Control
|
New Bird
|
Retrap
|
Blackcap
|
5
|
1
|
4
|
|
Blue Tit
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
|
Cetti's
Warbler
|
3
|
3
|
||
Chiffchaff
|
19
|
1
|
13
|
5
|
Dunnock
|
1
|
1
|
||
Goldcrest
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
|
Great Tit
|
3
|
3
|
||
Long-tailed
Tit
|
11
|
3
|
8
|
|
Reed
Bunting
|
1
|
1
|
||
Reed
Warbler
|
29
|
20
|
9
|
|
Sedge
Warbler
|
8
|
6
|
2
|
|
Treecreeper
|
2
|
2
|
||
Willow
Warbler
|
4
|
3
|
1
|
|
Wren
|
20
|
18
|
2
|
|
Total / (
CES )
CES excludes pulli and an extra net |
111/(106)
|
1
|
72/(67)
|
38
|
 |
| Goldcrest photo taken 16th July |
 |
| Same Goldcrest on 29th July - post-juvenile head moult nearly complete. |
 |
| Sedge Warbler nest |
 |
| Great Willowherb Epilobium hirsutum |
 |
| Short-fruited Willowherb Epilobium obscurum |
