11/06 Thatcham Marsh LNR CES

Location: Thatcham Marsh LNR CES Visit 2017.05
Session: 11-Jun-2017 05:30 to 10:30hrs
Headlines: A breezy session except for the early part. Some good captures each round tailed off in the last 30 minutes or so. A new control Reed Warbler probably the best capture and several Blue Tits as they entered the reed bed, something they have been doing this year much earlier than usual.
36 in the standard nets is below the average of 41 for visit 05; range 2013-15 1993-78. Three Sedge Warblers are below the 8 average for the visit as are 19 Reed Warblers below the average of 21. A fairly normal session for recent years.  A week earlier than 2016.with no sign yet of any juvenile Acrocephalus if any survived the high winds and heavy rain that have been hitting us for several days.
Weather: Sunny, some cloud, breezy getting stronger later, warm
Present: JL, IW DL, JPM
Nets: 234metres in 3 rides; 108m+90m standards reed bed ride and two 18M, 18M scrub rides up from 06:15 to 10:15hrs
Lure (none):
Capture (New/Recapture)

44(22/22)	46(21/24) CES 2016.05 18-Jun-2016
Species New Retrap Juv Adult BLACA 3 1 2 BLUTI 3 2 4 1 CETWA 2 2 CHIFF 1 1 DUNNO 1 1 GRETI 2 2 GRSWO 1 1 1 1 REEWA 7 13 20 ROBIN 3 3 SEDWA 1 2 3 WREN 2 2	Species New Retrap Juv Adult BLACA 6 1 3 4 BLUTI 2 1 1 CETWA 1 2 1 2 CHIFF 1 1 DUNNO 1 1 MUTSW 1 1 REEWA 6 18 24 SEDWA 2 1 1 2 SONTH 1 1 WREN 1 2 1 2

Recaptures: (22) Blue Tit 2y 53d Cetti’s Warbler 3y 25d, 2y 277d Great Spotted Woodpecker 1y 41d Reed Warbler 1y 341d, 1y 328x2, 1y 28d, 1y 20d, 390d Sedge Warbler 1y 7d Wren 1y 229d, 343d; others recent.

Sightings 47 Species: Several interesting species seen including the first Shelduck recorded for a while flying over. The best bird however was the Turtle Dove that started purring mid-session. This species once breed here and its purring was once part of the ambiance of summer ringing sessions. It took a few moments for us to notice and realise what it was. For about 10 minutes it moved around the site, slowly moving west, pausing to purr every few minutes. It stopped when a dog began barking somewhere nearby and was not heard or seen again.
Counts for some species are probably not as accurate as usual.