Bird days and moth nights

The first two weeks of August have seen warm and calm days which have been great for ringing. The number of warblers are steadily increasing as Whitethroat's in particular look like they have had a decent breeding season with 250 ringed up to date. Mick and Dave got the ball rolling on the first day of the month with their nets covering a corner of the bay including the feeding station. Surprisingly, 32 birds from a total of 41 were warblers in an area that would expect good numbers of tits and Trees Sparrows.

The following night was a planned moth trapping session so Ed, Dave and I met on the Friday night and set up camp on the rail track. All nets were erected and furled ready for the early morning start. The moth night was another success with 51 species of micro and macro recorded.
We were up bright and early at 04:00 to open the nets which then gave us a few minutes to check the moth trap and pot-up any worth photographing. A selection of these are shown below.

The bird total was not great with just 45 birds processed as our reward.

New / retraps
Wren 3/0
Dunnock 1/1
Robin 1/0
Blackbird 1/1
Sedge Warbler 3/2
Lesser Whitethroat 1/0
Whitethroat 6/4
Blackcap 2/0
Chiffchaff 1/0
Willow Warbler 4/1
Marsh Tit 0/1
Willow Tit 1/0
Blue Tit 1/3
Treecreeper 2/0
Chaffinch 2/0
Linnet 1/0
Reed Bunting 2/0

An inspection of the Swallows at nearby stables and farm resulted in a further 12 pulli being ringed with more still on eggs.

Ruby Tiger

Scalloped Oak

Purple Thorn

Pale Prominent