Again another evening visit, with Gavin, plus Tim from Reading. A surprisingly busy evening with 46 birds between 6 and 10pm, and we did not have our willow/reed nets up for at least the first hour. We also had a good mix of species, along with a fairly decent Hirundine catch of 19 birds which for this site is good going. This year the site is having a good run of Whitethroats with 31 done so far compared with only 15 in the whole of 2010. This in part maybe due to some better growth of bramble patches on site and due to a good breeding season, with young possibly also already on the move.
We are also extending the willow/carr ride net further out into the water by putting in a fixed post at the end of the last net 40 ft further out. Unfortunately I forgot to check that the bolts fixing the net post to the base which had been hammered into the mud were long enough to go through both pieces of wood, so we managed to partly get things in place whilst I try and remember to take longer bolts next time. Totals for the night were:
Swallow - 12
Sand Martin -1
House Martin -1
Blackbird - (1)
Song Thrush - 1
Reed Warbler - 4 (6)
Whitethroat - 6 (2)
Blackcap - 1
Great Tit - 1
Starling - 1
Goldfinch - 2
Greenfinch - 1
Reed Bunting - 2
