I’ve managed to get behind in reporting in this year’s CES catches but basically the number of birds from the first three sessions compare favourably with last year. The main differences seem to be in the number of ‘resident’ species we are catching or rather failing to catch. Having ringed this site since 2003 the numbers of Wren, Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Chaffinch are the lowest we can remember them with Tits and Robin’s particularly poorly represented.
Session 3 started by getting out of bed at 0250 in order to race the approach of daylight. We arrived on sight at 0410 having driven through patches of dense low mist to be greeted by 1°c temperatures and as we are pretty efficient at getting the nets up these days we had all 14 CES and 4 bonus 60’s up in 45 minutes.
Catching was relatively slow after the first net round but we still managed to finish with 90 captures for the morning. A Grasshopper Warbler was singing from the other side of the fence line we aren’t allowed to cross as it’s on the artillery impact range which the Dutch army were using with some gusto all morning, so we able to try for it.
On the safe side of the fence oddities for this time of the year included a singing Sedge Warbler which evaded the nets and a silent Reed Warbler that did not. Best bird of the morning was a control Garden Warbler with an Icona Madrid ring. Worryingly, no juvenile birds of any species have been caught yet. All the Tit boxes we have up in this area are all still at the egg stage with nothing hatched at all as are all the Swallow nests we've checked so maybe everthing here is just 2 weeks behind average like many other areas of the country. GD/PD/OF/AB
CES session 1
Wren 1(2), Dunnock 1(2), Robin (2), Nightingale (1), Blackbird 1(1), Lesser Whitethroat (1), Whitethroat 11(4), Garden Warbler 1(3), Blackcap 35(3), Chiffchaff (6), Willow Warbler 1(5), Long-tailed Tit (1), Chaffinch (2), Linnet 2, Bullfinch 2(2)
CES Session 2
Wren (1), Dunnock (5), Robin (2), Blackbird (1), Song Thrush 3(3), Lesser Whitethroat 4(2), Whitethroat 5(2), Garden Warbler 5(3), Blackcap 7(9), Chiffchaff 1(2), Willow Warbler (1), Long-tailed Tit 2(3), Chaffinch (1), Linnet 3, Bullfinch (3)
CES session 3
Wren 2(3), Dunnock (9), Robin (4), Blackbird 3(4), Reed Warbler 1, Lesser Whitethroat (3), Whitethroat 5(12), Garden Warbler 3(5), Blackcap 6(3), Chiffchaff 1(5), Willow Warbler 1(3), Goldcrest (1), Long-tailed Tit (5), Linnet 6(1), Bullfinch 1(3)