A Bit of Ringing and Some Coastal Gardening

Ian and I had a ringing session in one of the obs many reedbeds this morning and it was a typical reflection of this year's abysmal breeding season caused by the poor summer weather. We processed 11 new birds of 9 species as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Sedge Warbler - 2
Dunnock - 1
Reed Warbler - 1 (1)
Whitethroat - 2
Robin - 1
Goldfinch - 1
Blackcap - 1
Willow Warbler - 1
wren - 1
Great Tit - (2)

 Whitethroat

It was equally quiet on the birding front although the Starlings departing from their reedbed roost was dramatic. As we were putting a couple of nets up in the reeds we were close to where the Starlings were roosting. When they flew low backwards and forwards before 'exploding' out of their roost the noise was deafening and it sounded like waves crashing on the shore.

A Snipe exited the reeds later in the morning as it heard 5 other Snipe flying overhead which it flew up to join. And a single Tree Pipit south was the only other noteworthy entry in my notebook.

After we packed up we went to one of our ringing areas amongst coastal fields and hedgerows and cleared the net rides in preparation for some autumnal coastal migration monitoring starting next weekend, if not before.