11/09 Greenham Common

Location: Greenham Common Western Enclosure

Session: 11-Sep-2018 07:30 to 10:30hrs

Headlines: When I looked out of the windows at about 06:00hrs it looked to be blowing a gale. My house and the surrounding tree act like a vortex though so I decided to go to the site and see. It was not too bad but still breezy, so I decided to put up two of the more sheltered nets and see what if anything was about. I was expecting that lack of birds would mean an early finish. A Chiffchaff in the first net encouraged me to put up the third net of the set I usually erect. The strong breeze was affecting this last net more than the others, kept dropping the top section of the telescopic poles. I retracted the pole to two sections, this not only lowered the net to more shelter but increased the pocket depth of the nets, lowering the possibility of birds bouncing out. The capture 12 birds was a little unexpected. I persisted with the nets today as rain is forecast for tomorrow. Eventually the gusts got stronger, so I took the nets down from 10:00hrs

Weather: very breezy with strong gusts, overcast, warm
Present: JL
Nets: 48metres in three rides of 18m, 18m, 12m up from 08:00 to 10:00hrs.
Lure (audio): playlists: warblers, miscellaneous migrants(part), autumn(part), redstart

Capture (New/Recapture) 12(12/00)	Matching Visit: none
Species New Rtp Juv Adult BLACA 6 6 BLUTI 2 2 CHIFF 4 4	Species New Rtp Juv Adult

Recaptures: none

Sightings: I did a casual count today seeing 16 species, nothing unexpected, buzzards and kites were soaring in the windy conditions as were a few gulls. A large rapture slipped by me, I only spotted it as it made the treeline, but it looked interesting. One of the regular dog walkers also saw it, thought it was not a buzzard or a kite and ask me what it was; one that got away unfortunately.