Recent recoveries and early September ringing

Reed Warbler BDE0857 was ringed at the jetty on 25 July, and was caught at Charleston Reedbed, East Sussex (for a typical short channel crossing) on 8 August - 14 days, 266 km, 119 degrees.

Cettis Warbler BDE0208 was recently reported in the blog (see here and here) and has now been caught twice more at Stanford Reservoir (on 24th and 25th August) where it now seems to have settled.

The unsettled conditions continued into the start of the month, but the forecast for Tuesday 2nd was a bit better, so Jeremy and Jerry had another long session at the jetty. In the end conditions were good, with no sign of the forecast light rain/rain showers. Jeremy did the early start, with Jerry taking over from 10.00 to mid afternoon, and a very worthwhile catch of 65 + (5). The mix was Robin 1, Cettis Warbler 4 + (1), Reed Warbler 12 + (1), Sedge Warbler 10, Blackcap 5, Willow Warbler 1, Chiffchaff 29 + (3), and Blue Tit 3.

Andy tried the jetty on Friday 5th, and in a short session caught 32 + (10), mainly "Acros and Blackcap. Peter and Alan J were back there for a roost in the evening and a catch of 29 +(1), The mix for the day was Wren 2, Sand Martin 6, Swallow 11, Cettis Warbler 1 + (3), Reed Warbler 15 + (3), Sedge Warbler 4 + (2), Blackcap 5, Chiffchaff 13 + (3), Starling 1, Blue Tit 2, and Great Tit 1. We have had a really good year for Chiffchaff and the evening catch took our year total to over 500, only the 3rd species where this has happened, after Sand Martin and Reed Warbler.

Another roost (Peter and Alan J) on Monday 8th and a catch of just 5, this was disappointing given the numbers of birds present but was sadly curtailed when the weather deteriorated around dusk, well before it was forecast to. The mix was Sedge Warbler 1, Sand Martin 1, Chiffchaff 2, and Blue Tit 1.

On Tuesday 9th Andy was at the jetty and Jeremy was in the garden, The wind started to pick up from mid morning, which probably reduced the catches, of 28 + (6) and 20 + (4) respectively. The mix for the day was Wren 3 + (1), Robin (1), Cettis Warbler 1 + (1), Reed Warbler 7 + (1), Sedge Warbler 9 + (1), Blackcap 8, Chiffchaff 13, Goldcrest 5 + (1), Blue Tit 1 + (2), Long-tailed Tit (1), and Bullfinch 1 + (1).

The rainy/windy weather caused another delay before our next ringing session, which involved Andy at the jetty on Saturday 13th. Despite an early disruption from a short-lived early shower, he managed a modest catch of 12 + (3) - Cettis Warbler 1, Reed Warbler 5 + (1), Sedge Warbler 1, Blackcap 1, Chiffchaff 1 + (1), and Blue Tit 3 + (1).