The Llangorse Holy Grail (CES8, RAS visits 7 to RB2 and Jetty)

For the first time in a long time the 17th of July saw the three main sites at Llangorse in operation at the same time (the Holy Grail). This has been proposed numerous times in recent years but for one reason or another always seemed to fall through. The weather wasn't ideal, being breezy late on and the sun poked through the thin cloud at times but it could have been worse and in the end a respectable day total was achieved.

Jeremy was in the Garden doing CES8 and had a decent catch of 33 + (12), with a decent species mix of 14, the highlights of his catch were 9 new Blackbirds, seemingly eating the cherry's around the hut and in the garden - judging by the droppings they left in the bird bags and a new Pied Wagtail, the groups first since November 2008 and although further digging through our records is required to be sure, at this stage it looks like the first caught during a CES since 2002.

A first for 11 years! The Pied Wagtail was a 5F

Peter was in RB2 where catching was good, all net rounds had 4+ birds which made for a steady, easy to manage day. The variety at this site was less, with a still respectable 10 species in a total catch of 37 + (17). The highlights were the Reed Warbler numbers of 18 + (11), ten of these retraps were adults, with 8 new for the year adults caught, most were caught as young birds last year, but 2 were ringed in 2016 (first capture since) and 2013 (caught most years since) and therefore eligible to be counted in the RAS. He also caught another 7 + (2) Reed Bunting following the bumper catch Rachel and Jerry had on Saturday.

Andy was at the Jetty, where catching was much slower, finishing with a total of 13 + (10). There was very little activity early on with the vegetation wet and once it dried out a little the birds seemed to favour an area adjacent to the catching area. Andy caught three more Reed Bunting plus 7 + (9) Reed Warbler. These Reed Warbler retraps have yet to be checked for RAS eligible birds.

All three sites caught at least 1 Sedge Warbler, potentially confirming the impression that passage has already started. It also appears that we have hit 1000 new birds for the year (Chiffchaff in the Garden), which is a pretty normal date for us, although it is much earlier than last year when we were well into August before the 1000 came up.

The totals for the three sites were 83 + (39) and broke down as follows:

	CES	RB2	Jetty	Total
Dunnock	1 -	- -	- -	1 -
Blackcap	5 (2)	4 -	1 -	9 (2)
Bullfinch	2 (2)	- -	- -	3 (2)
Reed Warbler	1 (2)	18 (11)	7 (9)	26 (22)
Robin	3 (1)	- (1)	- -	3 (2)
Blackbird	9 -	1 -	- -	10 -
Garden Warbler	2 -	- -	- -	2 -
Song Thrush	- (1)	1 -	- -	1 (1)
Blue Tit	5 (1)	1 (1)	1 -	7 (2)
Pied Wagtail	1 -	- -	- -	1 -
Long Tailed Tit	- (1)	- -	- -	- (1)
Chiffchaff	2 (1)	1 -	- -	3 (1)
Sedge Warbler	1 -	2 -	1 -	4 -
Cettis Warbler	1 -	- -	- -	1 -
Reed Bunting	- -	7 (2)	3 (1)	10 (3)
Willow Warbler	- (1)	1 (1)	- -	1 (2)
Wren	- -	1 (1)	- -	1 (1)
Total	33 (12)	37 (17)	13 (10)	83 (39)