14/08 Thatcham Marsh LNR CES Visit 11

Location: Thatcham Marsh LNR CES Visit 11

Session: 14-Aug-2016 05:30 to 11:00hrs

Headlines: After last week’s doom and gloom a much better session. 34 is a little below the average  of 37 for visit 11; range 2005-13 1997-72. The cumulative total of 321 shows the trend of the year with 321 to visit 11, average 442 range 2013-309 1995-698. With one session left this latter is showing 2016 in a little better light than it looked after visit 10. From early on it was obvious that avian activity was much higher than last week; the first round of 6  was just under half of the total for visit 10. The next round of 18 confirmed our view that there was a movement through the site. The scrub around the ringing station had plenty of  foraging birds; mostly phylos with a few tits, sylvia warblers and other resident species. Acrocephalus warblers also featured including Sedge Warbler absent for the last session. The bird of the day was a Lesser Whitethroat; last capture here, two in 2005. Activity dropped towards the end of the session. After the nets came down, a bit of grass cutting and JHW assembled a new bridge over one of the inlets that cross the reed bed ride. Unlike the last session satisfying day.

Weather: Sunny periods early, clouding over later, warm and calm.

Present: JL, JHW, IW, DL, GB, SC

Nets: 228Metres108M+90M in one reed bed ride. 30M of additional net in two rides of 18M and 12M up from 06:10 to 10:10hrs

Lure (none):

Capture (New/Recapture) 43 (38/5: Blackcap 3/0, Blue Tit 1/0, Bullfinch 1/0, Cetti’s Warbler 1/1, Chiffchaff 10/0, Dunnock 1/0, Goldcrest 1/0, Great Tit 1/0, Lesser Whitethroat 1/0, Reed Warbler 7/1, Robin 2/1, Sedge Warbler 3/0, Willow Warbler 2/0, Wren 4/2

Recaptures: 5 all less than 50days except Robin 1y 314d, Wren 1y 342d

Age Range: 1st CY except the recaptures above.

 1st Calender Year Lesser Whitethroat

The new bridge; our confidence in the future maybe and should save a wet foot or three.

Sightings 41 Species: as mention above the scrub was very active for much of the morning and the list includes what is a rare bird here now, a Marsh Tit. The buzzard nest continues to be quite noisy; a least one youngster seen on the wing, so the next few days should see the nest vacated. A lone Egyptian Goose flew over honking when we were putting the nets up and at least one Water Rail was squealing in the reeds. Few over-flyers apart from Canada Goose.

Blackbird 2+ Blackcap 8+ Black-headed Gull 40+ Blue Tit 10+ Bullfinch 2+ Buzzard 1+ Canada Goose 53+ Carrion Crow 2+ Cetti's Warbler 2+ Chaffinch 1+ Chiffchaff 10+ Coal Tit 1+ Common Tern 2+ Cormorant 2 Dunnock 2+ Egyptian Goose 1 Feral Pigeon 2 Garden Warbler 1+ Goldcrest 2+ Goldfinch 3+ Great Spotted Woodpecker 2+

Great Tit 5+ Green Woodpecker 2+ Jackdaw 3+ Jay 1+ Lesser Black-backed Gull 5+ Lesser Whitethroat  1 Little Grebe 2+ Long-tailed Tit 8+ Marsh Tit 1+ Moorhen 3+ Reed Bunting 2+ Reed Warbler 10+ Robin 5+ Sedge Warbler 5+ Swallow 2+ Treecreeper 2+ Water Rail 1+ Willow Warbler 8+ Woodpigeon 10+ Wren 12+