Blog
Keith and Jim are in outstanding form ringing Nightjars and this includes chicks as well at the adults caught in mist nets.Another good session. Weather calm, warm, slight cloud cover--ideal ringing conditions. Had a couple of extra nets by the feeding station--new birds= 71.
Highlights were 11 Chiffchaff, 7 Willow Warblers,12 Blackcaps, 10 Sedge Warblers, 5 Reed Warblers, 6 Tree Sparrows and 2 each of Garden Warblers and Whitethroat. We also ringed a third Common Tern chick which we obviously missed last time--but noticed that on Steve Nuttall's blog that he had seen 3 chicks being fed.
We set the nets on Friday evening to get a quick start on Saturday morning. We spent a couple of hours catching on Friday but only managed 17 new birds. The nets were then furled and we started again at 4.45am on Saturday. First bird at 5.15 was a Kingfisher--the first for a couple of years. Things then went quite--lovely sunny morning with no wind quickly warming up. Things were moving along steadily however, and a couple of catches at the feeder increased numbers --especially of Chaffinch and Tree Sparrow. Session enede with 61 new birds ( ie 78 for both). Main highlignts of the combined actch were 11 Chiffchaff, 12 Reed Warblers, 5 Sedge Warbler, 8 Blackcaps, our first Goldcrest of the year, and 2 Common Tern chicks on the nesting platform
After a fairly modest catch on Saturday, we were'nt expecting anything special today. The weather dawned clear, with light winds, 15 C and cloud slowly building. The first net round was not particularly good--but each round after maintained a reasonable catch until we closed at 9am. We had about a dozen same site retraps, but 63 new birds was a very respectable catch. Made up of Chiffchaff 8, Reed warbler 15, Blackcap 10, Sedge warbler 6, Garden warbler and Whitethroat 2 each--with some spice added by yet another Yellowhammer, and a Marsh tit.
It looks as though the young Reed warblers are finally coming out of the woodwork--or at least the reedbeds, so we are getting a much better feel for how many there are.