The autumn migration is starting to gather pace as apparent from reports at some observatories in Europe where catches have suddenly leapt from very little to three figure totals over night in some cases.
Today we wondered whether there would be much in the way of migrant warblers yet and placed an extra net along the hedgerow to intercept any birds flying to and from a section of hedge, into the field borders sown especially to feed wild birds. We thought that Whitethroats would definitely make use of this.
As it turned out we were correct with Whitethroats (all juveniles) making up almost half of the catch, although about a third of these were actually visiting the fruiting Blackberry bushes of Hilly Piece wood. We were not surprised to find that the Whitethroats were all hatched this year. Our Rate of Adult Survival study on Whitethroats, completed over 5 years at Wraysbury in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead clearly showed that adults leave the breeding grounds very soon after their chicks fledge and commence their migration well in advance of the young birds.
Chiffchaffs and Dunnocks were conspicuous by their absence.
Robin - 2
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 14
Blackcap - 4
Willow Warbler - 1
Blue Tit - 3 (1)
Great Tit - 1
Yellowhammer - 1