22/08 Thatcham Marsh LNR

Location: Thatcham Marsh LNR CES Visit 2026.11

Session:     22/08/2026 06:00 to 11:00hrs

Present:      IW, JL, RAD, JHW, NC.

Weather:    Sunny with some cloud, calm, cool early warm later..

Nets: 192M net along the reed bed ride (net lengths 1A & 2A) up from 06:30 to 10:30hrs.

Lures:   (none)

Long-tailed Tit – unlike most passerines both adults and juveniles do a full moult August/September. Once this is complete it is not possible to separate them by age and they all become aged 2 code (all we know age-wise is that they are fullgrown).

Notes: We were able to unlock the gate today, the additional locks and who installed them is a mystery. Yesterday when I checked, the master lock had again been over-riden, fortunately this morning the chain of locks was in the correct configuration. It seem that some users  don’t realise they have missed out a lock. I had borrowed a key to one of the other locks just incase though. The ride is quite overgrown despite two interim tidying up sessions this season. For much of its length the phragmitres reed etc is the highest we can remember, being above the top of 2.7metre high nets. With their roots in water the very hot weather of late has caused accelerated growth of the reed, nettles and other plants. Fifteen of the 27 total were in the nets at nets down. Before this ringing was slow with few bird in or about the reed bed. Probably the most difficult extractions were a Common Hornet and a very large Bumble Bee; the latter stung me on the thumb which was quite painful.

FG = age indeterminate

CES visit 2026.11 Recaptures: (05)

Cetti’s warbler ringed: 05/10/2025, 02/08/2026.

Reed Warbler ringed: 25/07/2026.

Wren ringed: 03/07/2022, 21/06/2026. 

Sightings: A high flying Sparrowhawk early otherwise much as expected though we don’t often see

Mute Swan over here now. When the stream was clear of reed a family bred further upstream and

would sometimes venture down adjacent the net ride. One session one got trapped on the net ride

and was ringed – a unique occurrence for CES ringing.