With it now not light enough do to a first net round until 0530 we had all 18 of our 60's up in the dark and was able to give the Nightjar lure a good long blast in the hope of attracting one. We had the nets up so quickly we had enough time to watch absolutely nothing to into the chat net but did get a brief glimpse of a Nightjar skimming over the scrub.
The first net round produced a good 30 or so birds including a Whinchat from one of the other nets and a Grasshopper Warbler along with a spread of other common warblers with a particular increase in the number of Blackcap's. The highlight of the round however were the two Nightjar's that had come straight to the lure. We average only one every other year at this site so this was a really good catch for us.
Two Tree Pipit's and three new Redstart's added to the quality of the mornings catch but another highlight was our third control in as many visits, this time in the form of a Redstart.
After the first two hours of the morning the numbers died off dramatically and the wind picked up so we had to take the nets down early. As we were doing so the number of Swallow's passing increased and a Hobby that was chasing them flew straight through where one of our nets had been so proving you can't be lucky all the tine. 120 new, 16 retrap, 1 control. GD/PD/OF
Nightjar 2, Swallow 1, Tree Pipit 2, Wren 1, Dunnock (1), Robin 7(2), Redstart 3(1), Whinchat 1, Blackbird 1, Song Thrush 1, Grasshopper Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler 12, Reed Warbler 3, Whitethroat 29(1), Garden Warbler 3(3), Blackcap 33(7), Chiffchaff 1(1), Willow Warbler 12, Long Tailed Tit (1), Great Tit 2, Blue Tit 1, Bullfinch 3, Yellowhammer 1
