The rain was forecast to clear overnight into Sunday morning, and just as important, it was forecast to fall calm. Gail and I decided to make the most of the window of opportunity to carry out a ringing session, and by 5:15 a.m. we were putting a couple of nets up in the reedbed and scrub at the Nature Park. It had been forecast to be sunny, but even better was the fact that Sunday morning dawned overcast, so no wind and nearly full cloud cover, was perfect for operating mist nets.
As alluded to in my blog title, we had a mini warbler fest, and we managed to ring 35 birds, 27 of which were warblers of seven species. Our totals were as follows:
Wren - 1
Chiffchaff - 5
Dunnock - 1
Reed Warbler - 6
Blackcap - 8
Blue Tit - 3
Great Tit - 1
Cetti's Warbler - 4
Robin - 2
Sedge Warbler - 1
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 2
As you would expect at this time of year, 32 of the birds we ringed were all juveniles, 25 of which were in full juvenile plumage and had yet to start to moult, perhaps an indication that they hadn't travelled far. Amongst the 27 warblers that we ringed, only three were adults, two male Reed Warblers and a male Cetti's Warbler.
It was interesting that we didn't catch any Willow Warblers, when the habitat is suitable for them, but it's difficult and impossible to draw any conclusions from a single ringing session. The only other warbler species missing was Garden Warbler, but it is later in the autumn before we generally ring any Garden Warblers at this site.
From a birding perspective, the morning was quiet, meagre pickings from
the pages of my notebook include a couple of calling Whimbrels from the
river and a single Raven.
That was the good news, but the bad news at the moment is that the weather forecast isn't great for the next couple of weeks, with low pressure forecast to dominate, with showery and blustery conditions. However, as an eternal optimist, there's time for it to change.
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