mid July - RAS, Barnacle Geese, CES 8, and a roost

Thursday 13th was the best weather window of the week, so RAS visits were made to the jetty (Andy) and rb2 (Jerry & Jake). The respective catches were a reasonable, but disappointing, 11 + (3) and 18 + (3) respectively, made up of Robin 3, Dunnock 1, Blackbird 2, Cettis Warbler 1 - without the tail fault bars of the previous 2 (so likely part of a different brood), Reed Warbler 15+ (4) - including (3) more for the RAS, Sedge Warbler 1 + (1) - a retrap from 2022, Chiffchaff 2, Willow Warbler 1, Blue Tit 1, Treecreeper 2, and Bullfinch (1). The best species at rb2 was a Great Diving Beetle, safely extracted from the net, and released.

The Barnacle Goose roundup was planned for Friday 14th, despite it forecast to be a wet day (not quite as wet at the Lake than elsewhere because of the "rain shadow" affect of the Beacons). Only seven members - Andy, George, Jeremy, Jerry, Lyndon, Rachel and Ron were available, and as the first car arrived on site, it was obvious that something had changed, with the whole herd "leggin it" to the water's edge. In previous years, school groups had been regularly camping on site, and the birds were quite use to their presence, but with no people this year they were much more wary. Having put up the pen, trying to coax the birds towards it failed and the birds took to the water. An hour later and they still hadn't returned to land. Future round ups will likely need the help of some canoeists (as with the Canadas). Fortunately Mark Wardron had been keeping detailed notes of the colour ringed birds, so we know which had returned from last year.

Jeremy (with help from Jerry) did CES 8 on Wednesday 19th, in near perfect conditions (dry, calm, good cloud cover) at the start and catching was steady. However, the sun started to break through for the second half and they ended on a modest 26 + (5). The species mix was Robin 3 + (1), Dunnock 1, Blackbird 3 + (1), Reed Warbler 5 (juveniles starting to wander from the reed beds), Chiffchaff 4 + (1), Blackcap 3, Blue Tit 1, Great Tit 1, Treecreeper 2, Nuthatch 1, and Bullfinch 2 + (2). The total was a little below the recent average for this visit (39). Later in the morning George & Roger delivered some scaffold boards, to widen the rb2 boardwalk, making it safer/easier to use when the boards are wet (in the early mornings)

George and Roger

Peter, Alan J and Ruth tried another roost on Thursday 20th, and with a slightly later start (than previous visits) the Sand Martin were already overhead at 19:30. The pre-roost catch comprised 5 + (2) Reed Warbler (still a decent proportion of adults with the juveniles, and 1 more for the RAS), and 1 Willow Warbler. The Sand Martin were very interested in the tapes straight away, making low exploratory passes. The behaviour is slightly different on each visit, presumably affected by changing conditions (weather, flock size, predators, and probably others we don't know about). Numbers built to over 2000 again, when the Hobby appeared and gave an impressive aerial display, causing the flock to break up into several smaller groups. Catching started with a few singles/doubles going in before two decent sized flocks were partially caught in the end net. A larger flock came down from height (went over the top of the net with the Hobby in very close pursuit), and appeared to drop into the reeds about 20-30m away. Only small numbers were subsequently caught, a few even flushed into the net by the Hobby as it quartered the reed tops. The catch ended on 39 + (1) - an adult male ringed last August. This year's 5 roosts have resulted in 212 + (1) Sand Martin, but only 2 + (1) Swallow, which is a slight concern. The Swallows have always been outnumbered, and our data shows that they usually do better later on in the season, but this year appears to be a particularly poor start for them.

Jerry opted to do the penultimate rb2 RAS visit on Friday 21st (as there was a marginally better forecast for cloud cover), and the strengthening breeze from mid morning didn't unduly effect the nets (which were sheltered behind the alder carr). It was a decent variety in the catch of 31 + (9), made up of Wren 2, Robin 1, Sedge Warbler 4 - (first movement of the year), Reed Warbler 17 + (8) - (incl (6) more for the RAS, and a UK control), Chiffchaff 2, Willow Warbler 1, Garden Warbler 1, Goldcrest 1, Coal Tit 1, Long-tailed Tit 1, and Treecreeper (1). A Hornet passed by the ringing table several times.