The day turned out to be a much better ringing day than weather reports had foretold.
Ringing had not been planned, but there had been reports of visible migration of swallows on Saturday and it seemed too good an opportunity to miss, so we loaded the gear into the car and were on site and set up by 4.30pm.
We noted small bands of Swallows crossing the lake in waves then heading on, low across the mounds, but none were tempted by the tapes while there were still available daylight hours. The catching was slow but we did manage some Chiff-chaffs along with a single Meadow Pipit. As the light began to fail, a group of some 50+ Swallows began to circle the reed-bed. The Hobbies didn’t seem to be around and we were optimistic that the roost attempt would be a success this time. The birds gradually flew lower and some appeared to go in as others made another circuit of the lake. It was shortly after this that a group of birds flew fast towards us, skimming the reeds, with a big female Sparrowhawk in hot pursuit. With the sky devoid of Swallows we went down to check the nets and found that 5 juveniles had been caught along with another new Cetti’s Warbler (3F).
Total as follows:
Meadow Pipit - 1
Swallow - 5
Cetti’s Warbler - 1
Chiff-chaff - 4
Blue Tit – 0 (2)