17/08 Greenham Common Western Enclosure

Location: Greenham Common Western Enclosure

Session: 17-Aug-2016 06:30 to 10:40hrs

Headlines: As the weather towards the end of the week is looking unsettled I did a repeat visit today in case it was the last time conditions were suitable for a while. (just checked at 17:00hrs and it has improved) I thought I might do better as there was cloud and murk early from dawn. Like yesterday a trickle of migrants through the site dominated by Willow Warbler. A Dartford Warbler reacted to its song for a change, unfortunately I arrived just at the wrong moment and frightened it away from the net; maybe next time. A good flock of mixed phylos and tits seen in the trees south of the enclosure disappointingly stayed there and did not come across. Two Lesser Whitethroat east of the enclosure also ignored their song as did several Whitethroat. Apart from the Garden Warbler no captures after 08:45hrs, mainly due to the breeze affecting the nets. I made use of the time by repairing a 2metre long tear that “appeared” recently in an 18metre net
I thought perhaps this year was not as good as last year. For August to date key species total as follows (2015/2016) Blackcap 27/7, Blue Tit 1/4, Chiffchaff 29/6, Garden Warbler 7/6, Goldcrest 2/1, Great Tit 0/2, Lesser Whitethroat 2/0, Whitethroat 7/11, Willow Warbler 14/30. So far Blackcap, Chiffchaff numbers are down. About the same is Garden Warbler while Whitethroat numbers are up and Willow Warbler numbers are double 2015’s totals. Interestingly July numbers for 2015 and 2016 are more or less equal to each other for the species listed. Perhaps some species had late repeat broods after early breeding failures or they just failed and left early due to the wet, windy weather this spring and early summer. The next few weeks will be interesting if the weather conditions are suitable.

Weather: calm, cool, overcast early, bright sunshine and warm once the murk cleared around 09:00hrs; the last half hour was breezy.

Present: JL

Nets: 48Metres in three rides of 18M, 18M, 12M up from 06:45 to 10:20hrs

Lure (audio): Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Firecrest, Goldcrest, Dartford Warbler, Willow Warbler, Redstart, Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat intermittently.

Capture (New/Recapture) 13 (12/1): Blackcap 1/0, Blue Tit 0/1, Chiffchaff 1/0, Garden Warbler 1/0, Goldcrest 1/0, Willow Warbler 8/0

Recaptures: 1 a Blue Tit ringed here 364 days ago

Age Range: all 1st CY except the adult Blue Tit.

Sightings 30 Species: I realised soon after I got there that the usual Jackdaws were not flying to and fro; in fact none seen all through the visit and none on the bunker railings. It was much the same as yesterday otherwise with a little more migrant activity in the surrounding scrub. There was one flock of Swallows rather than yesterdays trickle. Apart from these very few fly-overs except for the Sparrowhawk, a female that stirred the Swallows up a bit; quite brave buzzing a bird several times your size that would eat you if given half a chance.

Blackcap 3+ Blue Tit 4+ Carrion Crow 3+ Chiffchaff 5+ Coal Tit 1+ Dartford Warbler 2+ Dunnock 3+ Garden Warbler 1+ Goldcrest 1+ Goldfinch 6+ Great Spotted Woodpecker 2+ Great Tit 2+ Green Woodpecker 3+ Grey Wagtail 1 House Martin 4+

Lesser Black-backed Gull 3 Lesser Whitethroat 2+ Linnet 10+ Long-tailed Tit 8+ Magpie 4+ Robin 4+ Sparrowhawk 1 Stonechat 5+ Swallow 12+ Treecreeper 1+ Whitethroat 5+ Willow Warbler 12+ Woodlark 2+ Woodpigeon 10+ Wren 3+