CES 9 and Last RAS sessions

On the 28th of July Peter visited the lake to run CES 9 with help and assistance from Ted, Alan and Rachel.
On the weather front the session started well, but as the day went on both sunshine on the nets and the breeze getting up probably effected the catch. It was however still a good session, with a total of 31 + (9) of 17 species. One of the star species of the day were two 3J Pied Wagtail, potentially young of the bird caught at the last CES, although the different stages of moult between the two birds and the homeowners observations of what was likely at least two breeding pairs in the garden this year means that this is not certain. The other star species, for Peter at least topping the Pied Wagtails, was a lovely Lesser Whitethroat. The first (and only?) for the year. Also of interest was an adult Great Tit with a "bald" head and young Blackbirds again being numerous - this time being the most caught bird. The breakdown of the catch was as follows:
Wren 1 (1), Willow Warbler 1, Chiffchaff 5, Long Tailed Tit (1), Pied Wagtail 2, Reed Warbler 3, Blackcap 3 (1), Garden Warbler 1, Lesser Whitethroat 1, Redstart 1, Robin (1), Blue Tit (1), Great Tit (1), Bullfinch 2 (3), Nuthatch 1, Song Thrush 1, Blackbird 9.

Lesser Whitethroat

Also on 28th, Jerry was at the jetty, for a quiet session (although the cloud cover held, it became quite breezy from mid session) of just 12 + (2). Andy, was back there on 29th, for a slightly better catch of 19 + (6), whilst Willow & Jerry had a remarkably similar 20 + (7) in rb2. The combined species mix for the three visits was - Wren 1 + (1), Cettis Warbler (1), Sedge Warbler 4, Reed Warbler 31 + (7), Garden Warbler 1 + (1), Willow Warbler 5, Chiffchaff 1, Blue Tit 1 + (3), Great Tit 1 and Reed Bunting 6 + (2). With poor weather forecast for the last two days of July, it looks like these will be the last RAS sessions of the year. In total we managed 9 visits to rb2, and 10 visits to the jetty. A respectable 31 individual Reed Warblers were caught from previous years, that will contribute to the adult survival estimation.

The ringing total for July was 412, and the YTD becomes 1117. From 1 August we will be able to play "tapes" at these two sites, and hopefully boost the catches.