On Tuesday, we awoke, in advance of the alarm, to fierce rustling from
the reedbeds indicative of a bad dose of wind. Having checked outside we were
both relieved to find there had been no rain, but quickly did a round of the
nets, as the darkness receeded, to find just a few birds. We persevered until
11.00am, checking frequently, but closed early with only five birds, including
another Bluethroat and a House Sparrow (ringed under the Icona Madrid scheme).
It was necessary to clear a large amount of reed foliage, and spinning nets in
winds that by this time touched on 40Km per hour was to say the least
interesting. Our time was also spent watching the Black Redstarts, which now
had reached at least three, attracted to the immediate building, although our
hopes that some may blunder into a net are not great. Making the most of our
extra time we headed off to the southern side of the river to see an area we
would not have normal time to get to heading towards La Tancada. We had a group
of larks that included Lesser Short-toed and a varied assortment of waders,
including Kentish Plover, and a sole Yellow Wagtail.
Smart Black Redstart male
La Tancada
Wednesday, we woke at
5am and found the wind slightly less so went out and reset the nets. This
turned out to have been a good plan, as the day was fairly busy with 53 birds,
as the Northerly winds had brought in some migtants, with some goods ones
thrown in, with three Black Redstarts, a Moustached Warbler, six Reed Warblers
(three being re-traps), a single retrap Bluethroat and an influx of
Chiff-chaff. Midday birding managed to add a couple of Spotted Redshnak and
Peregrine to the trip, plus our first Glossy Ibis cr sightings, with six birds,
with many more too far off or the rings too dirty to read.
Sunrise over Canal Vell
Moustached Warbler
Black Redstarts
The concentration of fish in this channel demonstrates the fertile nature of the delta.
Any large group of feeding glossies revealed colour-ringed individuals but staying close enough, long enough to read them was another matter as birds were wary in the extreme.
Thursday was a day of
still slightly fresh winds, but we managed to process 55 birds today, mostly
Chiff-chaffs, with the highlights being another Bluethroat and Black Redstart,
along with a Reed Warbler and another re-trap Great Reed Warbler. We also had
our first Blackcap. Birdingwise we had a single White Stork and four Cranes,
all in flight, and also managed single Ferruginous and Tufted Ducks, plus a
solo Black Tern on Canal Vell from the watch tower. A visit toi Rite Ville, a
SEO reserve added Pintail and Stonechat, with an immature Booted Eagle over.
Phylloscopus Collybita - leading species of the day
Great Reed Warbler
Rite Ville
Friday was a relatively
calm day that produced our best result with 64 birds, the majority being 32
Chiff-chaffs, a Savi's Warbler, two Blackcaps (one being a retrap), five
Bluethroats (one retrap), a retrap Moustached Warbler from the Madrid (ICONA)
scheme, and a retrap Reed Bunting from Sweden. Birdingwise in the adjacent rice fields
there were a couple of Ruff and a Heron resembling Western Reef Heron (though
there are hybrids in the Ebro area), and a Booted Eagle over Canal Vell.
The best haul from any one round
EMB SCH - Reed Bunting from Sweden
Albeitinus Chiff
Collybita next to Albeitinus for comparison
Savi's Warbler
The dragonflies take up position for the evening
Western Reef Heron 'type' bird
Saturday was a quieter
day ringing wise with only 36 birds, with a drop in Chiff-chaff numbers, two
Reed Warblers, a single Blue throat, and Sardinian Warblers. No Black Redstarts
were seen at all during the day anywhere. On the rice fields we found one area
which held c40 Gull-billed, c10 Whiskered and a single Black tern, along with
a small party of Bar-tailed Godwits, with seven Cranes seen in flight. At Canal
Vell, a pair plus a group of 20+ Spoonbills were seen, along with another group
of c20 Cranes, a couple of Slender-billed and a party of 20 Mediterranena Gulls
were seen.
Net 20 at the lake
3M Sardinian Warbler
Gull-billed Terns
Nets 2 to 6
Sunday, the last day of ringing days was clearly passed the best of our days. There were another 14 Chiffs, and a smattering of Reed Buntings, Cetti's Warblers, Song Thush, Robins and a Greenfinch that had escaped captivity. We removed its red ring and fitted one from the ringing scheme.
The view to the west across the lake
When CL and DKL went to Spain
Species
|
26/10
|
27/10
|
28/10
|
29/10
|
30/10
|
31/10
|
1/11
|
2/11
|
3/11
|
Moorhen
|
1
|
1
|
|||||||
Kingfisher
|
1
|
0
(1) |
1
|
||||||
Robin
|
1
(3) |
1
|
2
(1) |
8
(2) |
2
(1) |
1
(1) |
2
(2) |
0
(2) |
|
Bluethroat
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
1
|
0
(1) |
1
|
4
(1) |
1
|
|
Black Redstart
|
3
|
1
|
|||||||
Song Thrush
|
1
(1) |
0
(1) |
3
|
1
|
1
|
||||
Cetti’sWarbler
|
1
(1) |
7
(2) |
6
(3) |
1
|
1
(2) |
1
|
5
(2) |
4
(2) |
2
(2) |
Fan-tailed Warbler
|
1
|
||||||||
Savi’s Warbler
|
1
|
||||||||
Moustached Warbler
|
1
|
0
(1) |
|||||||
Reed Warbler
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
3
(3) |
1
|
0
(1) |
2
|
||
Great Reed Warbler
|
0
(1) |
0
(1) |
1
|
||||||
Sardinian Warbler
|
1
|
||||||||
Blackcap
|
1
|
1
(1) |
1
|
||||||
Chiffchaff
|
3
(2) |
6
|
8
|
1
|
20
(1) |
32
(1) |
34 (4)
|
11 (5)
|
14
|
House Sparrow
|
2
|
2
|
0
(1) |
1
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
||
Tree Sparrow
|
1
|
3
|
1
|
1
|
|||||
Chaffinch
|
1
|
1
|
|||||||
Greenfinch
|
1
|
||||||||
Reed Bunting
|
1
|
2
|
1
|
4
(1) |
7
|
5
(1) |
3
|
2
|
|
TOTALS:
|
10
(8) |
24
(3) |
28
(4) |
4
(1) |
43 (10)
|
51
(4) |
53 (12)
|
27 (9)
|
22 (4)
|