Stanwell Moor - 18 August 2014

We visited Stanwell Moor this morning with the intention of limiting our efforts to 5 nets in the sheltered reed bed area due to rather windy conditions. Although we only netted between 6.45am and 11am we still managed 26 birds, rather more than we thought might be captured.
There were a few juvenile Reed and Sedge Warblers passing through, of which one Reed Warbler carried fat scored at 6. Of the five Chiffchaffs, two were retraps from the previous month and there was also a Willow Warbler in the mix.

A tale of not two, or three but four Cetti's.
We were very pleased to extract a juvenile Cetti's Warbler at around 7.30am. We don't expect to catch more than three or four Cetti's each year, although we are aware that the number of singing males heard in spring and early summer has increased in the last three years.  The bird, ringed as D859679, was aged 3 and assumed to be offspring of one of the three males that held territories within earshot of our usual ringing base earlier this year.

 Cetti's Warbler aged 3

At 9.30am it was initially thought that the bird had wandered into the nets for a second time, but on closer inspection the ring number was D859134, a bird ringed on 15th July. The bird was another juvenile.

D859134 retrapped juvenile Cetti's Warbler.

We were really quite pleased with ourselves as the only other time that we've caught two Cetti's in one day was when they appeared to be very recently fledged siblings caught together. However, two further birds were extracted at 10.00am. The third Cetti's was another 3 and the fourth a 3JJ.

We can only speculate as to what we missed because the alarm failed to go off at 5.15am!

Totals: 22 (4)

Blackbird - 2
Wren - 1
Robin - 1 (1)
Cetti's Warbler - 3 (1)
Sedge Warbler - 2
Reed Warbler - 7
Chiffchaff - 3 (2)
Willow Warbler - 1
Blackcap -2