We held another session at the Grange end of Holme Pierrepont today. Duncan, Gary, Sue and I set all the usual nets under a clear sky with a light breeze blowing. The site and particularly the reed beds sounded quiet again. It was 0900 before we caught the first Reed Warbler, otherwise catching was steady but the breeze increased during the session and the sun got hotter. It was nice to have the first juvenile Cetti’s of the year.
We ended on 65 (54 new/11 retrap) made up of: Blackbird 2/2, Dunnock 1/0, Wren 3/0, Robin 2/0, Blackcap 15/1, Garden Warbler 2/0, Cetti’s Warbler 1/0, Reed Warbler 4/2, Sedge Warbler 2/0, Chiffchaff 1/1, Long-tailed Tit 4/3, Treecreeper 2/0, Blue Tit 8/0, Great Tit 2/1, Reed Bunting 5/1. The oldest retraps were only 2 years old.
To compare with the data on the last report:
65 birds caught, 28 of which were migrant warblers (43%) and 75% of the warbler catch were juvs, mostly Blackcaps.
Again in this modest catch for this time of year the number of warblers is well down on previous years but the percentage of warblers that were juvs improved over the last catch. Notice the continuing lack of Reed Warblers, making up just 9% of the catch today.
Other birds around were Curlew, Buzzard, Green Woodpecker and a calling Cuckoo.
The vegetation away from the reed beds has gone wild this year. During the last session Duncan and I cleared the ride behind the base for the 12m net and we set it today. The vegetation there is just under 3m high this year.
Kev
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