Broadwater GP - 20th August 2017

The forecast had been for stronger winds that we had. If it had been more accurate, then we would probably have tried Wraysbury. We put our eight nets up and during that time formed an impression that there weren't too many birds around, and those we could see were tending to remain high in the trees.

Clearly there was no recent arrival, probably down to poor migrating weather in the remnants of Hurricane Gert. We managed just over 50 birds made up of 14 Blackcaps and a sizable complement of tits. Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler numbers were down with four Goldcrest and a few thushes in the mix. Unusually, we had a retrap of a recently ringed Garden Warbler. The bird had weighed 16g on August 12th and was only 14.6g by 10am over a week later so long term prospects are not looking good for that individual.

 There were counts of 173 Greylag and 11 Little Egret on Broadwater Lake.

It's a real shame that there isn't enough lakeside access for nets as we're unable to try

for Swallows, Swifts and Martins anywhere.

All nets are sited in buddleia scrub. This is a difficult site to work

as hammering pegs in is impossible. It used to be a cement works and 

much of the ground surface has a layer of concrete under the moss.

Totals: 44 (7)

Blackbird - 3
Songthrush - 2
Wren - 0 (1)
Dunnock - 1
Robin - 1 (1)
Reed Warbler - 1
Blackcap - 14
Garden Warbler - 1 (1)
Chiffchaff - 8 (2)
Willow Warbler - 2
Goldcrest - 4
Blue Tit - 7 (1)
Great Tit - 0 (1)