RB2 - 1st RAS visit & CES 6

The water level had finally dropped enough (only the lowest parts of the boardwalk still under water) to think about a visit to rb2, so on Friday evening, Jerry put out the poles/guy-ropes and did some cutting (though there was not much growth due to the deep water). On Saturday 19th he tried a 6 hour session for 12 + (12) birds, a reasonable number considering the top panels were above reed height. The catch was made up of Sedge Warbler (1), Reed Warbler 8 + (9), Redstart 2, Pied Flycatcher 1, Blue Tit (1), Bullfinch 1 and Reed Bunting (1).

There were no juvenile Reed Warblers in the catch, and as several of the adults were caught twice, they are presumably attending nearby nests. With nine birds ringed in previous years (the oldest in 2016), not a bad start for our RAS. Both Redstarts were recently fledged and presumably from one of the nest boxes that was over deep water (so not checked). The Pied Flycatcher was a male just starting its moult, and likely from a nearby box where the chicks had recently fledged.

Jeremy did CES 6 on Tuesday 22nd, for a decent catch of 16 + (16) despite the sunny conditions, with most activity coming at the start and end of the session, with a quiet spell between. He had a decent mix of species, though with a marked absence of "Phyllorc" warblers. The details were Tawny Owl 1, Wren 1 + (2), Blackbird 2 + (4), Song Thrush 1, Dunnock (1), Robin 1 + (2), Redstart 1, Cettis Warbler (1), Blackcap 1 + (2), Garden Warbler 2 + (1), Reed Warbler (1), Long-tailed Tit 1, Blue Tit 4 + (1) and Bullfinch 1 + (1). Two (noisy) water pumps were operating in the point field, probably trying to reduce the extent of blue-green algae.

Juv Redstart

Tawny Owl - despite being resident in all three of our regular sites at the lake Tawny's are, unsurprisingly, not a bird we catch annually at the lake. This bird was the groups 30th individual and our 11th full grown bird, with the other 19 being chicks ringed in or around our boxes (4 of these were ringed away from the lake in '80 and '81) - we've undoubtedly missed quite a few more broods over the years as we simply aren't at the lake very often before the youngsters leave the boxes and "branch"! 

Cettis Warbler