I ran CES session 3 at Lower Moor this morning. It was a quiet session, as far as catching birds goes, which suited me as I was flying this one solo. There was masses of birdsong from all of the species caught, plus plenty of Willow Warbler and some Sedge Warbler singing. The 27 caught this morning compares with 29 caught in the corresponding session last year. The list for the session was: Long-tailed Tit 3(2); Wren 1; Dunnock 1(2); Robin (1); Song Thrush (1); Reed Warbler 1; Cetti’s Warbler (1); Blackcap 1(2); Garden Warbler (2); Lesser Whitethroat (2); Chiffchaff (4); Goldcrest (1); Bullfinch (2). Totals: 7 ringed from 5 species; 20 retrapped from 11 species; 27 processed from 13 species.
One of the new Long-tailed Tits was the first juvenile of this species that I have caught this year. The Reed Warbler was a male: small numbers, but they are increasing in the catch on the site.
There were a few other points of interest:
- At about 6:00 I saw an Otter porpoise three times as it made its way across Mallard Lake towards the drain between the lakes; I have never seen that behaviour by Otters before.
- The male Mute Swan spent the morning acting aggressively towards all of the Canada Geese. There is a family of 5 goslings and I watched a particularly enthralling interaction. The parents saw the swan approaching and ushered the goslings under overhanging vegetation at the side of the lake (alongside the path). The swan did its best to get at them but failed. One of the parent Canada Geese swam out in front of the swan and was attacked, it swam away and then waited for the swan to attack again. It did this repeatedly and led the swan away to the far side of Mallard Lake before flying back to re-join its family. It was brave and clever. without anthropomorphizing too much, the Mute Swan is clearly psychotic towards Canada Geese. They are known to regularly kill Canada Goose goslings, usually by drowning them. Canada Geese being no threat to them and not really competing for food sources, Canadas tending to graze on land, Mute Swans on aquatic plants, one can only put it down to Mute Swan nature. There was a family of Mallard ducklings, totally ignored by the swans, who have four cygnets themselves.
- A pair of Egyptian Geese settled in to the site. It is the first time I have noticed them there. They were behaving as aggressively as their reputation suggests. Over the course of the morning I saw the male attempt to attack a Raven, a Carrion Crow, a Jackdaw and severely disturb the Herons.
- Common Terns were regularly flying over the lakes. It would be interesting to float a couple of tern rafts out on Mallard Lake, but being a SSSI and the fishing club lake, I am not sure if it is possible. ST