Blimey, it's been hot! The question was, how had this impacted the breeding success of our birds? On Saturday 5th July the stars aligned and the SRG had a good turnout, so we set up three ringing stations; Dawn and Jo in the Paddock, Dave, Peter and Jade at the Point plus Northants reedbed, and Adam, Stuart, Kate and Josh on the Railtrack. First impressions were not great as it was a blowy day, but we persevered. Totals were the best for the year so far, with 167 new and 60 retraps!
As a snapshot of how well our birds are breeding, it was quite encouraging. The following numbers itemise this year's juveniles:
Blackbird 1, Blackcap 21, Blue Tit 23, Cetti's Warbler 3, Chaffinch 1, Chiffchaff 28, Cuckoo 1, Dunnock 2, Garden Warbler 7, Great Tit 11, Greenfinch 2, Lesser Whitethroat 3, Long-Tailed Tit 2, Reed Bunting 8, Reed Warbler 31, Robin 10, Sedge Warbler 4, Whitethroat 12, Willlow Warbler 2, and last but probably not least, our old friends 11 Wren. In addition the Nest Recording Team ringed 7 Common Tern, 1 Stock Dove and 2 Swallow.
A grey bird seen skirting the Point and straight into a net! Juvenile Cuckoo, Wow!
A fantastic year for ringing Common Tern, well done AGH!
In summary quite a productive year so far, although our resident birds are keeping quite a low profile; no Song Thrush, only one Blackbird is of concern perhaps, and amongst the migrants only two Willow Warblers and four Sedge Warblers seem quite lean numbers, but there is still time to pick up late broods and stragglers before the migrants turn up in force next month.
Adam, Dave, Josh and Tasker
One final juvenile was blown in courtesy of Jade, welcome Tasker to the group, although it has been noted that you need to work on various aspects of your ringing skills before you get your licence!