Mid July - more of the same ........

Thursday 15th July seemed to be the best day (weather-wise) so Jerry opted for the 5th RAS visit to rb2. Conditions started were calm and overcast, but the sun broke through and it got a bit breezy from 10 ish (which helped to dry out his trousers after a wet walk through the dew soaked uncut meadow), and the temp had risen to 25 C by the time he packed up. It was a decent catch of 24 + (3), including one more Reed Warbler for the RAS - the species mix was Wren 1, Blackbird 1, Robin 3, Redstart 3, Chiffchaff 1, Blackcap 2, Sedge Warbler 1, Reed Warbler 6 + (3) and Reed Bunting 6.

On Friday Jeremy and Robin did CES 8, and their catching was slow (as expected), with most of the nets in full sun and affecting the catch (as with the majority of this year's CES sessions). The star birds were juvenile Redstart and Siskin. With several Redstart also having been caught in rb2 it seems that this species has had a good breeding season, so disappointing that the earlier high water levels had restricted access to some of the nest boxes. The catch of 10 + (9) - the lowest for session 8 since 2003, was made up of Dunnock (1), Robin 2, Redstart 1, Blackbird (1), Song Thrush 1, Blackcap 2 + (1), Chiffchaff 3, Siskin 1 and Bullfinch (6). In the evening, Peter, Alan J and Andy tried another jetty roost. The Sand Martin numbers had built up to 450/500, but broke up into smaller groups as a result of the interest shown by two Hobby, and birds continued to come into the reeds until well after dark, The catch of 23 + (2) was made up of Sand Martin 19, Blackbird 1, Willow Warbler 1, Garden Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler 1 and Reed Warbler (2).

On Saturday 17th, Jerry did another RAS visit to the jetty, but the catch was again affected by the sun and (under the circumstances) he was reasonably pleased with his catch of 15 + (5). The species mix was Cettis Warbler 1, Chiffchaff 2, Blackcap 1, Reed Warbler 9 + (5) and Reed Bunting 2. At last some juvenile Reed Warblers are putting in an appearance (8 of the 9 new birds), and three more adults were added to the RAS.