CES 10

Alan and Ron did CES 10 on Tues 9 Aug, and their initial thoughts were "where have all the birds gone?".  The weather was mainly ideal, although the wind did pick up a little.  Just 11 + (1) caught, comprising - 

Willow Warbler 1, 

Goldcrest 1, 

Chiffchaff 1, 

Bullfinch 2, 

Reed Warbler 2 + (1), 

Dunnock 1, 

Blackcap 1 and 

Blackbird 2.

Although a lot of effort for few birds, large catches are not the aim of CES - whatever the catch, it contributes to our understanding of population/productivity fluctuations.  This low catch further emphasizing the (locally) poor breeding season.  Over the past 36 years of our CES visits, we have had just four single figure catches - the lowest, 4 birds (visit 3 in 2006), and the only lower catch for visit 10 was 6 birds in 2002.