26/06 Thatcham Marsh CES Visit 6

Location: Thatcham Marsh CES Visit 6
Session: 26-Jun-2016 05:30 to 10:30hrs
Headlines: Weather conditions were good for most of the first half after which they deteriorated to tolerable mostly due to it becoming progressively windy and overcast. As just three of us were available we erected the standard nets only and we did get to do all the ringing! Apart from the first round of 10 it was slow until the last round of seven when some juveniles began to move. It was a shame that our trainees had other commitments as we captured a juvenile Garden Warbler; these can confuse the unwary in the hand. The capture at 35 was below the average of 43 for this visit; range 2014-23 1995-67. The cumulative total for visit 6 is 186 ,below the average of 219. As others are finding resident species numbers particularly tits are low and as said before it was generally quiet bird-wise. Since all the Reed and Sedge Warblers captured had been ringed this year it looks like some of our older regulars have already finish or given up breeding and left the site. We are at the halfway point of the season so below is a chart showing Reed and Sedge Warbler captures for visits 1 to 6. As can be seen there is some correlation between the two species probably influenced by the weather; 2014 shows as a particularly poor year and 2011 might indicate an early fledging. The 5 year moving average levels out the bumps a bit and indicate a downward tend for both species though Reed Warbler numbers shows more variance. Not sure what this simple chart shows other than to add weight to our impression that both species have not been doing to well at our site in recent years.

Weather: Bright sunny calm early clouding over and becoming windy, overcast and coller during the second half of the session.

Present: JL, IW, DL
Nets: 198Metres: 108+90M of reed bed ride (standard nets) no additional nets
Lure (none):
Capture (New/Recapture) 35 (22/13): Blackcap 2/0, Cetti’s Warbler 3/0, Chiffchaff 2/1, Garden Warbler 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 2/0, Reed Bunting 0/1, Reed Warbler 6/9, Sedge Warbler 5/2, Treecreeper 1/0
Recaptures: 13 all recent, longest since ringing was a Sedge Warbler at 56days
Age Range: all juveniles except Adults: Chiffchaff 1, Reed Bunting 1, Reed Warbler 11, Sedge Warbler 1

The Juvenile Garden Warbler; bit unfair as the photograph does not indicate size.

The unwary/inexperienced might think at first glance that is a phylos.

Sightings 40 Species:A quiet morning, other than some swifts foraging high up no aerial feeders seen and no Willow Warblers or Whitethroats heard or seen. A female Pochard and chick on the pit was new for us.

Blackbird Blackcap Black-headed Gull Blue Tit Bullfinch Buzzard Canada Goose Carrion Crow Cetti’s Warbler Chaffinch Chiffchaff Common Tern Coot Cormorant Dunnock Gadwall Garden Warbler Goldcrest Goldfinch Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Tit Green Woodpecker Jackdaw Long-tailed Tit Magpie Mallard Moorhen Pochard Red Kite Reed Bunting Reed Warbler Robin Sedge Warbler Song Thrush Swift Treecreeper Tufted Duck Water Rail Woodpigeon Wren