04/10 Thatcham Marsh LNR

Location: Thatcham Marsh LNR

Session: 04-Oct-2015 07:00 to 11:3hrs
Weather: Overcast at first sunny periods later, calm, cold for most of morning
Present: JL, IW, DL, JHW, RGS, RDW
Nets: 720’ in four rides of one 360’+300’ reed bed ride, three scrub rides of 60’, 60’ 40’ up from 07:45 to 10:30hrs
Lure (audio): Blackcap, Chiffchaff (call and song), Goldcrest, Firecrest, Reed Bunting, Redwing, Reed Warbler intermittently.
Capture (New/Recapture) 55:

Blackcap 6/0	Blue Tit 1/3
Bullfinch 2/0	Cetti’s Warbler 3/5
Chiffchaff 11/0	Dunnock 2/0
Goldcrest 3/0	Long-tailed Tit 3/1
Reed Bunting 4/0	Robin 2/1
Sedge Warbler 1/0	Treecreeper 2/0
Wren 4/1

Recaptures: 11

Blue Tit  3y 68d, 168d. Cetti’s Warbler 1y 104d, 1y 27d, 357d, 78d, 36d. Long-tailed Tit 21d. Robin 78d. Wren 2y 48d

Age Range: All 1st summer except:

Adults: Blue Tit 2, Chiffchaff 1, Wren 2

Indeterminate: Cetti’s Warbler 8, Chiffchaff 1, Long-tailed Tit 4, Treecreeper 1

Probably the last Sedge Warbler we will see this year

Notes: Very cold at start otherwise good ringing conditions with good reaction to audio and a steady capture over much of the session. No Reed Warbler captured or heard. Sedge Warbler a late bird; 1 of 14 captured in October since ringing began here in 1967 (latest 10-Oct-2010) After 09:30hrs we started capturing Cetti’s Warbler; looks like there might have been a sort-out of territories. Reed Bunting calls seem irresistible to them this time of year. Finished a little early to cut the grass but the mower broke halfway through.

Sightings 39 Species: No winter thrushes yet, a few Siskin and Lesser Redpoll over, a Pheasant calling from reed bed; a shoot refugee, Water Rail much quieter this week; squealing from deep in the reeds. Some Coal Tit activity around the margins, probably involved more than 2 individuals. Cetti’s Warbler vocal an interloper or two, I think.

Blackbird 3 Blackcap 5 Black-headed Gull 15 Blue Tit 8 Bullfinch 2 Canada Goose 11 Carrion Crow 4 Cetti's Warbler 8 Chaffinch 2 Chiffchaff 10 Coal Tit 2 Cormorant 2 Dunnock 4 Egyptian Goose 2 Gadwall 9 Goldcrest 5 Goldfinch 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 Great Tit 2 Green Woodpecker 1

Grey Heron 1 Jackdaw 6 Jay 2 Kestrel 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull 9 Lesser Redpoll 2 Long-tailed Tit 5 Magpie 4 Moorhen 3 Nuthatch 1 Pheasant 1 Reed Bunting 5 Robin 5 Sedge Warbler 1 Siskin 9 Treecreeper 1 Water Rail 2 Woodpigeon 10 Wren 5