Mid June

Mid June and despite the seemingly incessant wind we’ve somehow already exceeded 2010’s June ringing total.

The highest total catch was on 11th when we processed 191 birds of which 101 were new. This was the day that 9 year old local lad Louis chose to visit us. A junior version of Chris Packham, to him it must have seemed rather easy to catch birds as each net round produced yet more wriggling bird bags. As we know it’s not like this every day…

Louis

Nevertheless, June so far, has generally seen good catches – each visit producing around 60 new birds. As usual at Stanford, warblers have predominated and the first 1J’s of the year for most species suggest another good breeding year. Of note in the first half of June have been new Blackcap (55), Whitethroat (63) and Reed Warbler (79). On 17th Adam managed to catch 82 Reed Warblers in one session alone (60 new, 21 retrap, 1 control).

Grasshopper Warblers have made a welcome return to Stanford recently, albeit in a small way after many years of absence. 25 years ago, when we located the nests of as many as six breeding pairs on the Northants side of the Reservoir in one year alone, they were regarded as a regular species but they declined sharply in the years to follow before disappearing altogether. Ringing evidence so far this season suggests at least two breeding pairs present this year.

Grasshopper Warbler

And, the first Green Woodpecker of the year graced our nets on 16th.

Green Woodpecker, male

And just in from Long Point Bird Observatory in Canada - Mick finds the incessant net rounds followed by the knitting classes were just too much....

Sleepy Mick