08/07 Thatcham Marsh LNR

Location: Thatcham Marsh LNR Constant Effort Site 2021.07 of 12
Session: 08/07/2021, 06:00 to 11:00hrs

Notes: We attempted to do visit seven on Saturday 3rd July. We were putting up the second net in a five net string when it started raining and within minutes we got a soaking from a very heavy shower. Decided to abandon the session, gathered up the equipment in the increasing downpour and returned to the cars when it stopped raining. It didn’t rain again that morning which was not what was showing on the rain radar. The next reasonable day weather-wise appeared to be Wednesday the 7th so we set up to ring that day. By Tuesday, the once reasonable weather forecast had changed for the worst also, we had late availability problems, so we changed the session to today. The weather was ideal for ringing, but the session started very slowly, there seemed to be little activity on the reed bed. It picked up around 08:00hrs when a round of the nets produced 20 birds, mostly juveniles. It included an adult male Blackcap that looked to be breeding nearby as it had a CP. It had been ringed by the Icona Madrid scheme; later we captured a 2019 ringed female with a BP in the same section of net. We had a better than expected Reed Warbler capture of juveniles as there appear to be only three or four pairs in the immediate vicinity of the net ride, unlike most years when numbers are in double figures. Visit seven is usually one of our higher number sessions as can be seen by the last 2019 equivalent visit. Unfortunately the regular triple figure sessions in the past are rare in recent times.

The Spanish ringed male Blackcap 

Present: JL,IW,JHW,NC
Weather: Cloudy, sunny periods, calm warm, humid.
Nets: 198metres in 1 ride of 198M up from 06:30 to 10:30hrs
Lures: None

Recaptures:(10)    

Blackcap	ringed 05/05/2019 plus the Spanish ringed male, details eventually.
Cetti’s Warbler	ringed 20/06/2021
Chiffchaff	ringed 18/08/2019,
Reed Warbler	ringed 23/05/2021, 12/06/2021, 20/06/2021x2
	ringed elsewhere: 08/08/2020 Titchfield Haven NNR Hants 65km
Sedge Warbler	ringed 20/06/2021
Wren	ringed 04/08/2019

Sightings 38 species: Swifts beginning to gather in numbers, presumably getting ready to move off south. Common terns quite active. A 25+ mixed tit/phylos flock moved through the scrub mid-session but unfortunately didn’t go onto the reed bed. This is the first decent size post fledging flock we have seen in the district this year.