Sunday 25 June 2017

Stanwell Moor GP - 21st June 2017

We had a net that needed the top panel taking off and not having enough space at home we took it to Stanwell, erected nets in the reed bed, then set to putting up and sorting out the 12 metre net in need of attention.

We didn't expect too much since the reed bed is not managed and we now have more and more willows with less and less reeds growing through them. We didn't expect there to be too many pairs of Reed Warbler in the rapidly diminishing reeds and without the aid of recorded calls or song, traffic through the ride could be slight.

We struggled up to ten birds, but this was still good as apart from getting the faulty net ready to use we also had five already ringed Reed Warblers amongst the captures.

The first, 4M Z958070, had been ringed this year on May the 5th. 4F Z762143 was previously ringed as a 4F on 23rd July 2016 and 4F Z761117 had been ringed as a juvenile on 2nd August 2015.

The other two birds were not ringed on this site, 4M Z763236 was also ringed as a 4M on 24th July 2016 at Bedfont and finally Z239857 is a ring issued to the Hersham ringing group.

The new birds were a couple of adult Reed Warblers,  a 4M Cetti's Warbler, a Great Tit and our first juvenile of the year, a Chiffchaff.

4F Reed Warbler Z761117



Other people ring in peace and quiet, between the aircraft and heavy plant, not us!

First juvenile of 2017 Chiffchaff JRV041

Further to this we spoke to some Brett staff who made the track a little more accessible for our vehicle, that can be challenged by the conditions even though it is a 4x4. So at least we can park off the track now.

Bee Orchid



Totals: 5 (5)

Cetti's Warbler - 1
Reed Warbler - 2 (5)
Chiffchaff - 1
Great Tit - 1