Reedbed Monitoring

It was great to be back in the reedbeds at the Obs this morning, albeit very early! This was our first ringing session in this habitat of the autumn, yes it's autumn in the bird world now, and when I met Ian at first light we were greeted with clear and calm conditions. The idea was to have a couple of hours ringing before the temperatures got up.

As you all know it was a very cold and late spring and large numbers of migrants either didn't make it back to the UK or started very late with their breeding cycle. It is going to be interesting to see what sort of results we have in terms of our catches, particularly the ratio between adult and juvenile birds. Of course after just one ringing session it is impossible to draw any conclusions.

We had a reasonable catch of 28 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Wren - 2
Chiffchaff - 2
Willow Warbler - 2
Lesser Whitethroat - 8
Reed Warbler - 2 (1)
Blackcap - 8
Cetti's Warbler - 1
Sedge Warbler - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Goldfinch - 1

Blackcap

So out of the 28 birds ringed 21 were juveniles and the rest adults, which is what you would expect at this time of year.

The birding was quiet other than a flock of twelve Lapwings that we put up driving through the site, a reeling Grasshopper Warbler, a group of twelve Swallows (exiting a roost?) and a distant Green Sandpiper calling from the river.

That was the first early morning out of the way, so I am looking forward to more early starts over the coming weeks. Honestly!