Late July - CES 9

With the weather changing almost daily (as fronts crossed the country), Andy opted to do CES 9 on Tuesday 23st July. The vegetation was wet from the early morning dew/mist and catching was slow. George and Jerry had arrived to help, but Jerry left to do an rb2 RAS session after a couple of hours (when the reeds had started to dry out). Catching soon improved at the CES with a decent species variety, before and a large flock of "Phylloscs" (mainly Chiffchaff) moved through the netting area just before the session was due to end. The catch of 48 + (6) was the highest of this year's CES sessions, and the 4th highest of any CES 9 catch since we started doing the CES. The species mixture was Tawny Owl 1 (caught after being accidentally disturbed from its daytime roost), Blackbird 2 + (1), Song Thrush 1, Reed Warbler 1, Blackcap 1 + (1), Garden Warbler 1, Chiffchaff 26 + (2), Willow Warbler 6, Blue Tit 2, Goldfinch 2, Bullfinch 4 + (2), and Reed Bunting 1.

A young Tawny Owl, a lunchtime surprise in the CES Scrub nets