Reed Warbler RAS season ends

On Wednesday 17th July, Andy was at the jetty and Jerry was in rb2, it was a misty start with wet reeds, but these quickly dried out in the sunshine. At the jetty the catch was 14 + (4) - made up of Chiffchaff 2, Reed Warbler 9 + (4), Long-tailed Tit 2, and Reed Bunting 1. Despite the relatively small catch, an excellent session with all (4) Reed Warbler new for the RAS (including a control bird first caught at the jetty in 2022). After seeing the overnight forecast, Jerry opted for a later start (to avoid the wet reeds), but his catch was very comparable at 13 + (1) - made up of Robin 1, Chiffchaff 3, Reed Warbler 8 + (1), and Reed Bunting 1. Most of the Reed Warblers were juveniles and the only ringed adult was caught a few weeks ago.

On Tuesday 23rd, Jerry was back in rb2, with a delayed start to allow the early morning reeds a chance to dry out. The catch was a very similar 12 + (3), made up of Robin 3, Chiffchaff 2, and Reed Warbler 7 + (3) - including one more for the RAS.

Tuesday 30th saw our last RAS sessions, with Andy at the jetty, and Jerry in rb2. The early mist (that was forecast) hardly developed, and the sites had almost identical catches - 18 + (3) at the jetty, and 17 + (3) in rb2. They included our first Sedge Warblers of the year, and 3 more RAS birds (2 at the jetty & 1 in rb2). The combined species mix was Blackbird 1, Robin 1, Cettis Warbler 1 + (1), Reed Warbler 17 + (5), Sedge Warbler 6, Garden Warbler 1, Chiffchaff 3, Willow Warbler 2, Blue Tit 2, and Reed Bunting 1.

Our "RAS period" runs from mid June to the end of July. At the jetty, seven morning visits resulted in 11 recaptured adults, while the evening roosts added a further 7 birds. In rb2 eight visits produced 11 recaptured adults, plus the Belgium ringed control (which appeared to have settled locally). Another successful year of monitoring adult Reed Warbler survival, with the birds originally ringed in 2016 - 2, 2017 - 2, 2018 - 2, 2019 - 1, 2020 - 1, 2021 - 4, 2022 - 9, and 2023 - 8. If time allows we will try to produce information on how often each bird has been caught previously.