03/07 Greenham Common

Location: Greenham Common - Western Enclosure wk 2026 wk27-Fri

Session: 03/07/2026 07:40 to 10:50hrs

Present: IW, JL.

Weather: bright sunny, warm, light breeze.

Nets: 48metres 3 Rides, up from 08:00 to 10:30 hrs

Lures audio: (BC-CC-FC-GC-GW-WH-LW-WO),(W-WC-RT-SF-TP-YW),(GH),(RT), intermittently. 

The last bird of the session – a Chiffchaff juvenile - note the disseminated feathers. This individual was one of two birds with a fat score of B2, possibly indicating they are migrating, also there are signs that the feathers above the top mandible have some pollen stuck to them. This occurs if pollen sticks to the birds feathers when they are probing flowers for insect etc. It is most often noticable in spring when these feathers are sometimes heavily "caked" in pollen when they have been probing flowers on their way back from the Mediterranean and/or Africa.

Notes: A few Blackcap today, probably dispersing locals, most had no fat build-up, some had signs of fat beginning to build around the tracheal pit but not enough to score. One of the Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap had the base of their tracheal pits (throat) obscured by fat to about one third – colour Yellow-pink as opposed to dark red ; the first we’ve seen so far this year.

Recaptures: (00)

Sightings: The local family party of Dartford Warblers was active for a while in the nearby scrub sometimes following the Stonechats. 

30/06 Greenham Common

 Location: Greenham Common - Western Enclosure wk 2026 wk27-Tue

Session: 30/06/2026 07:40 to 11:00hrs

Present: IW, JL.

Weather: sunny periods, few spots of rain early.

Nets: 48metres 3 Rides, up from 08:00 to 10:30 hrs

Lures audio: (BC-CC-FC-GC-GW-WH-LW-WO),(W-WC-RT-SF-TP-YW),(GH),(RT), intermittently.

Coal Tit in juvenile plumage

Notes: No Phyloscopus about today which is unusual. None of the migrants showed any sign of fat buildup. Two Coal Tits, both juveniles probably dispersing from nearby. It was spotting with rain when we arrived, but it soon stopped. Decided not to ring last Friday as it was to hot for the birds and humans. 

Recaptures: (00) 

Sightings: Only one Chiffchaff detected and not Blue Tits seen. Two of the Green Woodpeckers  looked to be juveniles. When erecting the nets I for a moment thought I had a harrier flying towards me, but it was a kite with very worn plumage including no fork to the tail. IW spotted a fritillary which was ID’d as a Silver-washed Fritillary. As we watched it flying from flower to flower another one appeared and chased it off. Two Gatekeepers were also present. No other insect or non-human/dog species detected.

28/06 Thatcham Marsh LNR

Location: Thatcham Marsh LNR non-CES Visit

Session:     28/06/2026 07:30 to 11:00hrs

Present:      JHW, CMD, IW, JL, RAD.

Weather:    Cloudy with sunny periods, warm, breezy at times, some rain spotting mid-session.

Nets: 48M and 36M nets along the reed bed ride (site A) + 3 12M separate rides set in scrub (site B) up from 07:30 to 11:00hrs.

Lures    (none):

Notes: a non-CES session with three 12m nets in the scrub and 48m + 36m nets along the reed bed ride all but 18M in the 1A section of the ride. The foliage along the ride has grown considerably since last Sunday’s session. It was a disapponting session as there were few birds about and those around were mostly singletons and surprisingly no Sedge Warblers detected. The pair of Reed Buntings are still present on territory and a few Reed Warblers could be heard. Possibly the extreme heat of the last few days has had a detrimental affect on birds including recently fledge individuals.  

Recaptures: (06)

Blackbird ringed: 24/04/2026

Cettis Warbler ringed: 13/06/2026

Dunnock ringed 21/06/2026

Reed Warbler ringed: 03/06/2023, 18/05/2025, 31/05/2026

Sightings: As mentioned above it was quite quiet bird-wise. Probably the best bird species of the session was the Tawny Owl flushed when CMD was erecting one of the scrub nets. As it was quiet attention turned to the many insects which were noticeably active in the heat over the grassland including some bush crickets. Other species of Butterfly and Moth etc were on the wing and fast flying so we probably missed a species or two.

23/06 Greenham Common

Location: Greenham Common - Western Enclosure wk 2026 wk26-Tue

Session: 23/06/2026 07:40 to 11:00hrs

Present: IW, JL.

Weather: clouding over early, bright sun later, hot, strong easterly breeze.

Nets: 48metres 3 Rides, up from 08:00 to 10:30 hrs

Lures audio: (BC-CC-FC-GC-GW-WH-LW-WO),(W-WC-RT-SF-TP-YW),(GH),(RT), intermittently.

Notes: A quiet session today. The warning of high temperatures didn’t materialise early in the session as it clouded over soon after we arrived. We were on the northern edge of the rain front that passed east along the south coast. After a little spotting it cleared from the west and when the sun appeared from behind the clouds it started getting hot as forecast. On the bird front its was quiet and we only ringed six birds; the nets down round being the only round with more than one bird in the net. This included the only migrant –- a Blackcap, the others ringed being dispersing juvenile plus an adult male Dunnock. The strong easterly breeze affected the nets making them more visitable than usual and probably contributed to less birds than expected being ringed.

Recaptures: (00) 

Sightings: It was quiet generally with relatively little avian movement apart from Starlings that flew low east for a while mid-session. The only other notable birds species was the Cormorant flying over high towards Lower Farm GP – this was once a regular sight but less so for the last year or so. On the non-bird front Southern Hawker and Brown Hawker are a first for this year.

21/06 Thatcham Marsh LNR

Location: Thatcham Marsh LNR CES Visit 2026.06

Session:     21/06/2026 07:30 to 11:00hrs

Present:      JHW, IW, RAD, JL..

Weather:    Sunny very hot calm

Nets: 192M reed bed ride + 2 12M separate rides set in scrub (site B) up from 06:30 to 10:30hrs.

Lures    (none):

The noisy juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker (RAD)

Notes: A Great Spotted Woodpecker capture is always noisy as the birds protests and fights back often inflicting injury on those not quick enough to avoid its beak when handling the bird. So far since we begain the CES in 1993 we have ringed 36 from the reed bed nets usually they are dispersing after breeding as the juvenile photo’d above. We are halfway through the season on visit CES 6 of 12 scheduled visits for 2026. Cetti's Warbler seem to have had a good breeding outcome. Reed and Sedge Warbler numbers still seem low, although this isn’t backed up by last years matching visit. Now that we are halfway through the season a look at visits 1 to 6 for Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler shows that the formers total is towards the high side of visits since 2021 while the latter remain around the normal for the last 10 years – the exception being 2024. The data for the CES uses just the totals from Reed Bed nets 1A and 2A, those birds from the B site scrub nets are excluding to maintain consistency as the use of B site is irregular. The totals in the tables below include B site birds. We were glad to complete the session and take the nets down at 10:30hrs as the temperature was becoming uncomfortably high for both us and more importantly the birds.

Recaptures: (11)

Cettis Warbler ringed: 21/06/2025, 28/09/2025, 26/04/2026

Sedge Warbler ringed 10/05/2026

Reed Warbler ringed: 23/06/2024, 10/05/2026x2, 02/08/2025, 02/05/2026, , 31/05/2026

Wren ringed: 15/10/2023

Sightings: No Cuckoos heard this week; its around this time their return migration begins. Pochard still with ducklings on the nearby pit. A few swift over high up but no hirundines seen. The Water Rails was heard to call; they have been silent for the last visit or two. A juvenile male sparrowhawk did a low run across the reed bed net ride just after nets down unfortunately. At the same time a Coal Tit was singing from the trees at the north end of the ride; not a regularly detected species around the reed bed. The only pair of Reed Buntings with a territory near our ride was unusually vocal during the session. Lots of insect activity over the grassland and along the ride, mostly Marbled Whites. In the long grass near the ringing station what was probably a vole or shrew was active – grass stems moving as it pushed its way through the foliage.