Pied Flycatchers and CES 4

On Saturday 3rd June, Jerry checked out the Flycatcher boxes in rb2 and the shelter-belt. Three boxes had chicks, but only one brood was old enough to ring. Two female were caught. Total - 2 adult and 3p.

A productive CES session by Carlton on Monday 5th (helped by the decent cloud cover for most of session, though grass mowing at the end may have disrupted the garden catch) and the third highest total (for CES 4) of the last decade. The total of 18 + (14) was made up of Wren (1), Robin 6 + (1), Blackbird 1, Song Thrush 1, Dunnock 1 + (3), Cettis Warbler (2), Blackcap 3 + (1), Garden Warbler (1), Chiffchaff 4 + (3), Willow Warbler (2), and Long-tailed Tit 2. The first juveniles of the year for Robin, Chiffchaff and Blackcap were caught. Between net rounds, Jerry ringed the last couple of Blue Tit broods at the Cathedine boxes (total 11p). The day total was 18 + 11 p + (14).

On Thursday 8th Pete had a long and very productive day going around our nest boxes, ending in a new record number of Pied Flycatcher ringed in a day. In the morning it was Cwm Sorgwm and 6 broods of Piefl (and 5 adults), plus 2 late broods of both Blue Tit and Great Tit. In the afternoon he was joined by Jerry at Cathedine for 3 broods (ands 3 adult) Piefl. In the early evening he was joined by Alan J at the shelterbelt, for 2 broods (and 2 adult) Piefl (unfortunately both had lost some chicks and brood size was small). The day total was 14p Blue Tit, 7p Great Tit, and 5 + (11) adult (incl another control - a bird ringed elsewhere) and 61p Pied Flycatcher. With the nest box "season" almost over, just one brood still left to ring, and about four more adults to try and catch.

On Saturday 10th, Jerry tried for the final males at Cathedine and the shelterbelt - without success. On both this and Peter's visit the male's for the two boxes in the shelterbelt were feeding the chicks far less frequently than the female at both boxes, raising the possibility that it was one male who had two broods. Without catching the Box 1 male it was impossible to know for sure if this was the case but it may also help explain the mortality with the chicks at these two boxes. Finally, Andy went to Cwm Sorgwm on Tuesday 13th to ring the final brood of 6 chicks. This has been our most successful Pied Flycatcher year (just topping our 2022 total) with 70 chicks, and 12 adults ringed. In addition another 10 adults (already with rings) were caught, including two that were ringed elsewhere (details to follow soon).

Pied Flycatchers in our boxes around the Lake seemed to have fared better than other local colonies checked by Group members. "all four broods failed " near Brecon - Andy, "a lot of large chicks freshly dead" eastern Black Mountains - Ron/George, "a few broods died" south of the Usk Valley - Jeremy