Last few RAS visits

On Tuesday 24th July, netting conditions were perfect - calm and mainly overcast. Jerry was in rb2, and Andy was at the jetty. Both had delayed starts, with Jerry having to straighten one of the metal poles that had been damaged by a cow, when it explored into the reed bed, and Andy trying to dampen, and then bar, some better pole holes. Their catches were 26 + (12) and 9 + (4) respectively, with species details - Reed Warbler 26 + (14), Sedge Warbler 5, Garden Warbler 1, Willow Warbler (1), Treecreeper 2 and Reed Bunting 1 + (1).

After some wet and windy weather (the first for a couple of months), Andy and Jerry were back at the jetty, for a catch of 19 + (4). In the evening Alan L and Ron returned to the jetty for an evening catch/roost. Only about 30 Swallow were seen (no Sand Martin), and about 300 Starling roosted just west of the hide (this seems to be their preferred site in recent years). A Brown Long-eared Bat was caught, which was released before it became too badly entangled. Their catch was 5 new birds. Combined species details for the day were - Swallow 2, Willow Warbler 1, Reed Warbler 12 + (4), Sedge Warbler 4, Blackcap 2, Blue Tit 1, Great Tit 1 and Reed Bunting 1.

After these final RAS sessions, our total for adult Reed Warbler recaptures was a respectable 39 (18 in rb2, and 21 at the jetty). Some of these had been ringed as juveniles in 2017, but 21 were older, and would count towards calculating the adult survival rate. At the end of July, our YTD ringing total was 917, the lowest since 2013 (when 901 birds had been ringed). In each year since then between 1101 and 1409 had been ringed by the end of the July. So, although spring 2018 was a reasonably good breeding season, it hasn't yet been reflected in our catches.