CES 5 and Reed Warbler RAS starts.

The forecast for Tuesday 18th June promised a break in the recent spell of poor weather, so Peter and Jerry were at the lake to do CES 5 (our 442nd! standard CES visit) and the first RAS visit of the season. Peter was in the garden and the near perfect conditions (overcast and still) led to a good catch. In fact the total of 41 was the 5th best (joint with 1997), for CES 5. The only years with higher totals were the 64 in '17, 62 in '15 and 44 in '89 & '90.

The staple bird for the day was Blackcap, with a very good total of 13 + (3), and the best birds among the usual suspects were single juvenile Coal Tit and Redstart. Although caught regularly by the Group during the autumn/winter, Coal Tits aren't caught annually during CES, so its always nice to catch one on a CES visit. Also of interest were three adult Willow Warbler - 2 males together in GN4 (territorial dispute ?), and a female in the same net on the previous net round. The bulk of the catch was made up of birds hatched this year, and the number of young Blackcap suggests that they, at least, have had a decent year locally, despite the recent rain.

Jerry was in RB2 doing the first Reed Warbler RAS of the year. He had a decent number (six) of ringed adults, but just three juveniles (one only recently out of the nest). Young Blackcaps made up the second most abundant species, but the star birds were Spotted Flycatcher, and control Reed Bunting (details to follow in due course). A young Treecreeper had been ringed an hour or so earlier in the garden - although only about 300m, a surprise movement with few hedge lines now linking the two sites. Low parts of the boardwalk are under an inch or so of water, so its a bit "slippy", and needs a cautious approach, one reason why a Jay escaped from the net before Jerry could get to it.

The day totals were as follows:

Species	CES	RB2	Totals
Willow Warbler	3 -	- -	3 -
Chiffchaf	5 -	- -	5 -
Wren	2 (1)	- (1)	2 (2)
Treecreeper	1 -	2 (2)	3 (2)
Redstart	1 -	- -	1 -
Robin	4 -	1 -	5 -
Blackcap	13 (3)	6 (2)	19 (5)
Reed Warbler	- -	10 (6)	10 (6)
Spotted Flycatcher	- -	1 -	1 -
Blue Tit	1 -	1 -	2 -
Coal Tit	1 -	- -	1 -
Bullfinch	1 -	- -	1 -
Reed Bunting	- -	- (2)	- (2)
Great Tit	- (3)	- -	- (3)
Dunnock	- (2)	- -	- (2)
Blackbird	- -	1 -	1 -
	32 (9)	22 (13)	54 (22)