Stoke Common & Warren Farm Sports Centre, Southall - 6th September 2020

 

A morning leisurely wander around the Common produced two juvenile male Redstarts, plus a couple of Stonechats, and a Hobby. Seems to be a good inland passage year for Redstarts in the Home Counties.

Redstart, juvenile male.

A few Ods were present in low numbers.

Common Darter

             

Southern Hawker

Migant Hawker

Willow Emerald

Ruddy Darter

The afternnon, maybe inspired by the Redstarts in the morning, I dragged myself out again over to Warren Farm Sports Centre, Southall, where last time I recall passing by there it was a looked after centre with laid out football pitches, but instread the buidling are boarded up, the place run down full of graffiti and horses graze the once neat and tidy football pitches. The old tarmaced sports area was full of over 200 burnt out large whelley bins and one of the long jump pits, had gained a health bee population (at least one plus). Somehow a Wryneck found its shelf here between the burnt out whelley bins and derelict buidlings. 

Wryneck

Broadwater GP - 5th September 2020

 A staggered approach to the socially distanced session saw Chris and myself on site  before 7am putting 4 nets up. M&M were along a bit  later, mainly to prepare one of the rides that had not been used during the summer. They put in some new fixed ties and left the double up once everything was done. Highlight of the day was a Grey Wagtail that found its way into M&Ms net.

The combined catch was as follows. 

Total: 58 (8)
Dunnock - 1

Robin - 0 (1)
Blackbird - 2

Cetti's Warbler - 1

Reed Warbler - 1
Blackcap - 14 (1)
Chiffchaff - 10 (3)
Willow Warbler - 7
Goldcrest - 2 (1)

Blue Tit - 14 (2)

Great Tit - 2

Long-tailed Tit - 3
Grey Wagtail - 1 

Wraysbury GP - 2nd September 2020

The morning had a feel of autumn, not just for the hanging mist low over the site as we arrived, but also due to a distinct change in how the birds were behaving. There was very much less about than we have been used to, and when birds were caught they often arrived in the nets in a flurry, all on the same side of the net as they moved around the site in small flocks. Birds could often be seen high in the trees that border the lake perimeter and little was moving around in the weedy areas, due in part we thought to much of the vegetation now falling back and lying closer to the ground, providing much less cover in the open areas.

Reed Warbler juvenile

Totals: 46 (7)
Dunnock - 5 (2)
Robin - 3 (2)
Reed Warbler - 2
Whitethroat - 1
Blackcap - 29 (1)
Willow Warbler - 1
Blue Tit - 2 (2)
Great Tit - 1
Goldfinch - 2

Stanwell Moor GP - 31st August 2020

We put up six nets behind the recycling works and hoped for something a little less usual from this site. Most of our efforts went into processing Blackcaps that made up over half of the catch. This session was the first without Garden Warbler and there was only one Whitethroat. We had a few Chiffchaff and no Willow Warbler. The bird of the day was undoubtedly a young male Redstart. The first for this and any Colne Valley Ringing Group site.

3M Redstart

Total: 72 (8)

Dunnock - 6 (2)
Robin - 4 (3)
Redstart - 1
Reed Warbler - 3
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 1
Blackcap - 44 (3)
Chiffchaff - 11
Blue Tit - 1

Wraysbury GP - 27th August 2020

We worked Wraysbury today and while other groups are reporting catches in excess of 300 and out of the ordinary captures such as Wryneck, we continue to plod along with the usual and managed 86 birds. Garden Warbler numbers are now in decline while Blackcaps remain the bulk of the catch.
A ringed Willow Warbler BLD868 was not one of ours. Demon reports that the bird was ringed on August 5th this year. Less than 24 hours later we have a notification that the bird was ringed at Rowensgarth, Greens, Aberdeenshire.

3M Blackcap

Robin aged 3

Whitethroat juvenile

site panorama

Totals: 78 (8)

Dunnock - 0 (3)
Robin - 5
Reed Warbler - 1
Whitethroat - 8
Garden Warbler - 2
Blackcap - 48 (3)
Chiffchaff - 6
Willow Warbler - 1 (1)
Goldcrest - 1
Blue Tit - 4 (1)
Goldfinch - 2

Wraysbury GP - 16th August 2020

We managed to fit a couple of hours in at the start of the day in anticipation of a few windy days during the coming week. A total of 49 birds were processed. This included five retraps, ringed no more than a couple of weeks before. There seemed to be few birds around despite reports of falls along the east coast. We decided that those may be continental migrants as opposed to birds from the UK. We noticed several trees down along the road skirting the lake, and later found out that there had been a 'mini tornado' through Wraysbury on Wednesday the 12th, with very heavy rain, hail the size of golf balls and strong swirling wind. There have been weather warnings about thunder storms in the UK over the last week. We wondered whether this had pushed many birds on, and had anything to do with the low catch both today and at Stanwell Moor on Thursday the 13th.

Totals: 44 (5)
Song Thrush - 1
Reed Warbler - 2
Lesser Whitethroat - 2 (2)
Whitethroat - 12 (1)
Garden Warbler - 8 (1)
Blackcap - 14 (1)
Goldcrest - 1
Blue Tit - 2
Great Tit -  1
Goldfinch - 1

Stanwell GP - 13th August 2020

On arrival we found that the grass and dry weeds from the bank had been cut and removed. This is probably a safety measure to avoid grass fires, but will no doubt deter birds with so much cover gone.  Grateful to be expecting lower temperatures than of late, we erected 5 nets and prepared for rain. At one point it was necessary to close nets and take refuge in the car for ten minutes, but the weather app was accurate and once that squall had gone through there were no further showers.

The site wasn't at all busy early on, with the only evidence of birds while setting up, being numerous Robins tacking from all the hedgerows. As the day drew on we also noted a couple of Kestrel, a Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk, but none of these found the nets. Warbler numbers and bird numbers in general seemed to have dropped, but we did get a couple of birds that had been ringed at Wraysbury C6. In the case of Garden Warbler APN0864 only two days beforehand. Whitethroat APN0618 was also ringed on C6 on 4th August. It seems odd that these birds have moved North at this time of year, but that may have been a result of the patchy heavy rain showers with thunder and lightening that have been bubbling up at very localised locations over the last couple of days. There was also a Garden Warbler with ring Z546765 not recognised as belonging to a local group. We await details.

Lesser Whitethroat

Blackcap

Totals: 35 (8)

Robin - 2
Dunnock - 2
Song Thrush - 1
Reed Warbler - 1
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 6 (3)
Garden Warbler - 1 (2)
Blackcap - 20 (2)
Willow Warbler - 0 (1)
Goldfinch - 1