A morning joined by LC to monitor our prime summer site. There were still some summer migrants here, Chiffchaff and Blackcap into double figures and a small numbers of juvenile Whitethroat, Reed and Sedge Warbler still about.
Totals: 45 (8)
Blackcap - 14
Blue Tit - 5 (1)
Chiffchaff - 12
Dunnock - 1 (2)
Reed Warbler - 2 (3)
Reed Bunting - 3
Robin - 2 (1)
Sedge Warbler - 3
Whitethroat - 2 (1)
Wren - 2
It was too windy for the ringing demo on Wednesday, so CL and myself went along to complete the usual monitoring today. We only got 33 birds as the summer migrant species all seem to be well on their way to departing for warmer climes, only 3 Chiffs, 2 Blacas and a Reed Warbler captured.
We got another Marsh Tit for the darvic marked sample and the most interesting aspect of the day was a further 4 Kingfisher captures, two new and two re-trapped, one that had been ringed at Pensthorpe on 26th July. All were juveniles. This takes our Kingfisher total to 10 for the year, 8 of them from Sculthorpe.
Totals: 27 (6)
Blackcap - 2
Blue Tit - 6 (2)
Bullfinch - 3
Cetti's Warbler - 1
Chiffchaff - 3
Kingfisher - 2 (2)
Reed Warbler - 1
Robin - 2 (1)
Marsh Tit - 1 (1)
Wren - 6
Rather blowy and very, very quiet today. Only 10 birds processed.
Total: 9 (1)
Blackcap - 1
Blue Tit - 1
Coal Tit - 2
Dunnock - 1
Great Tit - 0 (1)
Robin - 2
Whitethroat - 2
It wasn't a particularly high tide today, but sufficient to get some of the terns and gulls close enough for colour rings to be read. The Black-tailed Godwits were also on the pits so, although there were plenty that we couldn't get the codes or full combinations for we also recorded quite a few birds from other projects, and also found YN(2144) one of our own Med Gull juveniles from Scolt Head just along the coast.
A total of 52 birds processed at the lagoons today. Adult migrant species are very thin on the ground now. Only one adult Reed Warbler with any other adults being resident birds.
Some notable singles today, Sparrowhawk, Kingfisher and Wood Pigeon in addition to a Robin. Leading species of the day, Blackcap. Team of CL & DKL.
An evening spent in pursuit of Stonechats. We did quite well, marking 5 with darvics and even captured a juvenile Nightjar.
The first Stonechat was very interesting with dark feathers in the axillary pit.
A juvenile female Nightjar rounded the evening off nicely.
Discovery day at Sculthorpe Moor, the second of four being held every Wednesday throughout August.
We were concerned about the heat and began taking nets in very open areas down from 10:30am to avoid birds being in nets for too long as the heat intensity increased.
That didn't stop us catching plenty of birds to show the children, and their fascinated adults. Three Kingfishers on the day was most definitely an unexpected bonus.
Total:51 (5)
Blackcap - 4 (1)
Blue Tit - 3
Chiffchaff - 8 (1)
Great Tit - 4
Kingfisher - 3
Marsh Tit - 1 (1)
Reed Warbler - 19 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 4
Whitethroat - 1
Wren - 4
A total of 68 birds today with 15 species on the record sheet. It was unusual to capture a Garden Warbler as we see very few across all the sites that we work. Lesser Whitethroat was another species that don't feature heavily in our catches. Leading species was Reed Warbler, juveniles bar for a single individual. A juvenile Yellowhammer proved breeding to have taken place fairly locally.
Total: 64 (4)
Blackbird - 2
Blackcap - 8
Blue Tit - 4
Chiffchaff - 12
Dunnock - 1
Garden Warbler - 1
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Reed Bunting - 2
Reed Warbler - 15 (1)
Robin - 1
Sedge Warbler - 6 (2)
Song Thrush - 1
Whitethroat - 6 (1)
Wren - 3
Yellowhammer - 1
A bit on the windy side and with no takers for the session, we switched to a smaller site that would afford some shelter from the stiff breeze.
Only 21 birds captured, although a large flock of Long-tailed Tits that completely missed all nets could have swelled the total quite a bit. Whitethroats were particularly interesting as the mainly young birds made up almost half of the catch. Pleased to get a Lesser Whitethroat as this is the site where we are most likely to encounter them.
Total: 18 (3)
Blackbird - 1
Blackcap - 1 (2)
Blue Tit - 1
Dunnock - 1
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 9 (1)
Wren - 4
A last visit of the season to two boxes where owlets were too small to ring on the first visit. There were still 3 and 4 in the two boxes. Weights were good and feeding seems to be going well.
Four siblings, youngest to oldest.
Total: 7
Barn Owl pulli 7
This brings our total on this large estate to 25 ringed young from 15 boxes in use. A further 6 young had fledged prior to our visits earlier in July. The owls here seem to be doing okay, unlike so many other areas in the UK.
The first of the Sculthorpe Moor Discovery days in August. It was rather windier than we would have liked, but we went ahead and completed our usual monitoring of birds using the beaver enclosure. It was rather quiet, possibly due to the strong SW to NNW winds yesterday, and the adult Reed and Sedge Warblers had already moved on. A recently fledged Cetti's Warbler was the best bird of the day.
Team of CL, DKL, PWL, EGB & LC.
Total: 29 (3)
Blackcap - 4
Blue Tit - 2 (2)
Cetti's Warbler - 1
Chiffchaff - 6
Great Tit - 1 (1)
Reed Warbler - 4
Sedge Warbler - 2
Wren - 6
An evening return for swallows attracted a small group that ultimately roosted away from our netted area. Only one Swallow was captured with a few, mostly juvenile Reed Warblers in the early evening.
Total: (1)
Reed Bunting - 1
Reed Warbler - 9 (1)
Sedge Warbler - 5
Swallow - 1
An evening session before bad weather sets in tomorrow. We put up three single 18m nets hoping to get some Reed Warblers and perhaps even encourage a few Swallows to roost in the reeds around the old scrape area. We tried this last year and not a single hirundine turned up.
We started at around 7pm and before long were catching Acrocephalus warblers. As the light began to fail we played for Swallow and birds began to accumulate. Many seemed more interested in making low sweeps, possibly feeding, over the wet scrape than forming up into a pre-roost flock, some even settling loudly among the stems before the main drop in. We were fortunate to get quite a few birds in one of the nets well before the birds that were following the usual behaviour of gradually descending pre-roost circuits dropped in for the night. We decided to push that early catch net together to avoid catching too many birds with just the two of us to process them. Later there were 10 or so birds in the final net so not too may and they didn't need overnight roosting as it was not dark when they were released, although there wasn't much light as we took in the last two nets. Of all the Hirundines captured, there was just one adult Swallow and adult Sand Martin, so captures were predominantly inexperienced young birds and that may explain their behaviour. We were right to have shut the nets as we found rather a lot of bats feeding along the ride, probably attracted to insects that we were disturbing, as we took down.
To top off the evening we also saw a Barn Owl fly through the ringing area.
Total: 55 (1)
Sand Martin - 1
Swallow - 36
Sedge Warbler - 4
Reed Warbler - 14 (1)
