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.
NEWBURY RINGING GROUP
NEWS & RINGING SESSION REPORTS
Monday, 22 June 2026
21/06 Thatcham Marsh LNR
Friday, 19 June 2026
19/06 Greenham Common
Sightings: No hirundine again today, I was out on the common nearby Wednesday and Swallows were out on the heath feeding just above the ground so had a faint hope there might be some today around the enclosure. Compared to Tuesday it was relatively quiet. A couple of Dartford Warblers seen, Two male Stonechats singing also Whitethroats but no Willow Warbler song today and the adult Garden Warbler that was singing near the enclosure on Tuesday was also silent. There have been several Painted Lady sightings across the common this week.
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
16/06 Greenham Common Western Enclosure
Sightings: No sign of any Swift or hirundine apart from the lone Swallow that flew south before nets up. Don’t often see Kestrel at this end of the common in recent years. A pair of Siskin flew over west calling mid-session; think the occasional pair might breed in the area as singletons and sometimes more are heard/seen in spring and summer over the last year or two. It is noticeable that there are fewer encounters with Magpie at this end of the common - usually there are between 4 and 6 about. Other Dragonfly type species were also seen but were moving too fast for ID.
Sunday, 14 June 2026
13/06 Thatcham Marsh LNR CES Visit 2026.05
Notes: The tree that fell on the ride last winter at the north end of the reed bed has made it increasingly difficult to squeeze the 2A portion of nets in and it has also pushed the ride southward such that there was about a 5metre overlap with the 1A portion. It was decided to reduce the 2A portion by 6metres by replacing one of the 18metre nets with a 12metre net - the overal coverage is about the same just less overlap between the two portions of the ride. It was breezy for most of the session and the 2A length of reed bed ride was particulalrly affected, it being more exposed to the westerly that was blowing. As mentioned before it seems there are fewer Reed Warbler in the vacinity of the rides. I counted four singing males along the ride when most previous years at least double this number would have been present. Some of the Reed Warbler we did encounter showed little or no sign of breeding activity – BPs in early stage of development and CP difficult to see, some had no sign of either suggesting they were recent arrivals and that a portion of those that arrived earlier this season may have moved on. As can be seen in the table below the overal capture was about 50% better than last years matching visit. However about 30% of this visits total came from the two scrub nets - not erected for last years matching visit. Most of the scrub net birds were juveniles.
Cettis Warbler ringed: 12/07/2025, 29/09/2025, 12/10/2025, 26/04/2026x2,
Wednesday, 10 June 2026
10/06 Nest Box Report for 2026
Blue Tit 12-Successful 1-Young Deserted
Great Tit 3-Successful
Nuthatch 1-Succesful 1-Eggs Deserted
Unknown Species 1-Eggs Deserted
Unoccupied 2
Blue Tit 14-Successful
Great Tit 7-Successful 1-Young Deserted
Nuthatch 3-Successful
Unknown Sp 2-Ceased Before Laying.
Unoccupied 4 plus 1 box fell off tree after the last
maintenance visit and before the 1st check visit
Blue Tit 6-Successful 1-Young Deserted
Great Tit 8-Successful
Nuthatch 2-Successful
Unoccupied 2 plus 1-Occupied By Non-Avian Species
Blue Tit 11-Successful 1-Ceased Before Laying
Great Tit 8-Successful
Nuthatch 1-Successful
Unoccupied 2
Blue Tit 28- Successful 1-Young Deserted 1-Eggs
or Predated
Great Tit 25-Successful 1-Young Deserted
Nuthatch 3-Successful
Unknown Sp 3-Ceased Before Laying