CES visits 4 and 5

The start of June saw more unsettled weather, and the first opportunity for George/Ron to do CES 4 was going to be Mon/Tues (8th/9th), both of which were forecast to be windy/showery. However Sunday 7th seemed to be marginally better, and Jeremy/Robin/Jerry were able to do that date. It was better than the forecast suggested, so a good call, with just an hour of light drizzle around the start time, and occasional breezy spells afterwards. The catch of 37 + (17) had plenty of juvenile birds, and a species mix was Robin 5, Dunnock 1 + (1), Song Thrush 1 + (1), Mistle Thrush 1, Blackbird 3 + (4), Cettis Warbler (1), Chiffchaff 3 + (2), Blackcap 12 + (3), Goldcrest 1, Spotted Flycatcher 1, Pied Flycatcher (1) - fledged from a nearby box, Treecreeper 2, Great Tit 3 + (1), Long Tailed Tit 1, Goldfinch 2, Greenfinch 1, and Bullfinch (3). It was the third highest catch for CES 4 we have ever had.

Peter and Alan did CES 5 on Saturday the 13th of June, the forecast was brilliant, calm with high level cloud cover breaking occasionally for sunny spells, after a period of prolonged wet weather. As it turned out it was very sunny and not calm at all, with strong gusts of wind as well. Despite this there were alot of birds about and the catch, while obviously effected by the weather, was 28 + (14) which was very good, considering the the conditions. The highlights were undoubtably the second Spotted Flycatcher of the season and the 4 Redstart including an adult female and two juveniles caught at different times but all in one of the garden nets. The species mix was Wren (5), Chiffchaff 4 + (2), Goldcrest 1, Blue Tit 2 + (1), Blackcap 6, Cettis Warbler 1 + (2), Redstart 4, Spotted Flycatcher 1, Robin 4, Dunnock 1 + (1), Song Thrush 1 + (1), Blackbird 3 + (2). This total of 42 was the third best session of the last 10 years and the 6th best ever behind 64 (2017), 62 (2015), 61 (2025) and 44 (1989 & 1990). 

After 5 CES visits we have had more captures so far than in any other year in the history of our CES, which in our case goes right back to the start in 1980 (one of only two CES's that go back to the start). So it has been a really positive start to the year for our local breeding birds.