25/08 Thatcham Marsh LNR CES 2019.12

Location: Thatcham Marsh LNR CES 2019.12

Session: 23-Aug-2019 06:00 to 11:10hrs

Notes: An excellent final session for us, including a species that we look forward to ringing but don’t expects to get the opportunity, Wryneck. It is a real buzz when you see something in the net, and you know as you walk towards it from its outline that it is a bit different. For a start it was much smaller in the hand than we remember of the few we have seen. 

Wryneck: a first summer bird, wonder where it was hatched? It is most likely a continental bird. 1956 is the last breeding record for West Berkshire and it is now a scarce migrant and not always seen every year. 

37 from the standard nets is above the average for the 27 years of the CES; range for visit 12 1995-71, 2006-11. The cumulative total for 2019 is 434 which is below average, range 1995-769, 2013-337. The species total of 23 is about average, range 1993-27, 2006-17. As mentioned in previous posts Cetti’s Warbler had a quite poor breeding outcome. Although we captured around the usual number of adults (16), just three juveniles captured is well below the norm; since 2013, the last poor year, juveniles have ranged between nine and 16. This backs up a colleague’s finding doing a CBC type transact survey over the whole marsh. Reed Warbler productivity appears to be not so bad given the fewer adults (72) captured. As expected, Sedge Warbler numbers are down but may be levelling off. This follows the trend nationally as the species is said to be moving north reacting to increasing average temperatures.

Weather: sunny, some cloud, warming, calm.

Present: JL, JHW, DL, IW, JA

Nets: 258metres in three rides of 198m standard net reed bed, 100m, 100m addition scrub nets up from 06:30 to 10:30hrs

Lure (-): none

Capture (New/Recapture) 48(36/13) 13 Species	Matching Visit: CES 12, 24/08/2018 21(16/05) 10 Species
Species New Rtp Juv Adult BLACA 5 5 BLUTI 3 3 BULLF 1 1 CHIFF 7 1 6 2 DUNNO 4 1 4 1 GRSWO 1 1 GRETI 3 3 5 1 REEWA 4 2 6 ROBIN 4 1 5 SEDWA 1 1 WREN 3 3 5 1 WRYNE 1 1	Species New Rtp Juv Adult BLUTI 1 1 CETWA 1 1 CHIFF 1 1 GREFI 1 1 REEBU 1 1 REEWA 5 5 ROBIN 1 1 2 SEDWA 5 5 WHITE 1 1 WREN 1 2 2 1

Recaptures: (13) recent except:
CETWA          ringed 24/07/2016
DUNNO         ringed 27/05/2018

Sightings 35 Species: Obviously the Wryneck is the species of note,  and probably the best species seen or ringed for some years on the marsh; it was a lifer for two, and a Berks record for another. Still a few Swift over and occasional short burst of song from Willow Warbler the only other notable events.