Wraysbury GP - 27th April 2021

A day with very low wind spent at Wraysbury. There were plenty of Whitethroat, six of which were recaptures from previous years and of the 13 Whitethroats in total only 3 were female. This is in line with what one might expect with males arriving first to stake out, defend and maintain territories. There was certainly plenty of interaction, sometimes with up to 3 birds chasing around the disputed vegetation.

AAH5009 ringed at this site on 26/06/2020.

It was rather concerning to see that large areas of bramble appear to have died off. This seems to be most likely due to the late frosts that we've been having throughout April and is no doubt compounding the issue of sufficient numbers of suitable nesting sites for the Whitethroats.

Large areas of Bramble appear to be severely affected by late frosts

and have died off. Hopefully we will see some rapid regeneration.

There was a smattering of other species. Among the residents there were plenty of Dunnocks, three Song Thrush, a couple of Bullfinch and our first juvenile Robin of the season.

This 3JJ Robin was walked back and released in the bush it had been heading for when captured.

There were singles of Blackcap and Garden Warbler, ringed in 2018, amongst the migrant arrivals.

Totals:   25 (17)

Robin - 1
Dunnock - 4 (5)
Song Thrush - 1 (2)
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 7 (6)
Garden Warbler - 2 (1)
Blackcap - 5 (1)
Chiffchaff - 3
Blue Tit - 0 (1)
Bullfinch - 2