02/06 Thatcham Marsh LNR

Location: Thatcham Marsh LNR CES visit 2019.04
Session: 02-Jun-2019 06:00 to 11:00hrs

Notes: CES visit 2019.04 had a good selection of species and included juvenile Chiffchaff, Great Tit and Robin. Most are from the reed bed ride, perhaps reflecting the remaining habitat having a significant scrub element following the winter reed cut; the scrub didn’t get cut back winter 2018/19. The considerable drop in Reed Warblers captures compared to visit four in 2018 is worrying and seems more than one would expect after a reed cut; the areas remaining should be crowded but they are not. Hopefully there are some yet to arrive, it is getting late though.

Weather: Cloudy with some bright periods, warm, calm to breezy later.
Present: JL, DL, IW, JHW
Nets: 218metres in three rides, 108+90m standard reed bed ride with addition rides of 18M and 12M up from 06:30 to 10:30hrs.
Lure ( ): none

Capture (New/Recapture) 34(20.14) 10 Species	Matching Visit: 03-May-2018 38(15/23) CES 2018.04 8 Species
Species New Rtp Juv Adult BLABI 2 1 3 BLACA 1 1 CETWA 1 1 CHIFF 6 2 3 5 DUNNO 1 1 GRETI 2 2 REEWA 3 5 8 ROBIN 6 5 1 SEDWA 3 3 WREN 1 1	Species New Rtp Juv Adult BLUTI 2 1 1 2 BULLF 1 1 CETWA 2 2 DUNNO 1 1 REEWA 10 14 24 ROBIN 1 1 SEDWA 4 4 WREN 1 1 2

Recaptures: (14) recent except:

CETWA          ringed 16/08/2014 as a juvenile and has bred here every year since
CHIFF            ringed 06/08/2017, 15/04/2018
DUNNO         ringed 08/9/2013
REEWA         ringed 18/07/2015, 04/06/2016, 18/05/2018
SEDWA         ringed 30/07/2018

Sightings 38 Species: Ian’s list: A few Swift overhead and the Buzzards stirred up the crows, warblers were fairly quiet today probably all have females sitting on eggs. Finch numbers are low and it looks like Water Rail will not breed, the first time for some years that their squeals have not been heard in the early morning.