The BBC had predicted strong winds for Saturday and rain for Sunday morning, so it was looking unlikely we would get a session in. Some time on Saturday, however, the forecast changed. The weather was now ideal – the only problem was that with the late notice very few were able to make it.
The first few hours after dawn were almost textbook ringing conditions. A shower just after we had got the nets up (meaning immediate furling) dampened the early spirits, but after that it was very calm, cloudy and settled until about 10:00, when the wind picked up from the south west. We only put the fen meadow and scrub nets up, and took the former down at 10:30, by which time they had done their work.
For a long while it looked like we wouldn’t break 40 birds, but a late run of finches fired us close to 70. A real bonus when it looked like we wouldn’t get a session in!
The catch was as follows:
| Species | New | Re-trapped | Total |
| Wren | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Dunnock | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Robin | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Grasshopper Warbler |
1 | 0 | 1 |
| Chiffchaff | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Goldcrest | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| Long-tailed Tit |
4 | 0 | 4 |
| Marsh Tit | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Blue Tit | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Great Tit | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Chaffinch | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Greenfinch | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Goldfinch | 17 | 6 | 23 |
| Reed Bunting | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Total: | 55 | 14 | 69 |
The highlights were a late grasshopper warbler (which we quickly checked the underside streaking of to rule out something scarcer), good numbers of goldcrest and chiffchaff and four more reed bunting. We are now over 300 new goldfinch for the year, so are hoping to get some controls or at least some local interchange with the Vale of Glamorgan or the Nitten Field (Mewslade) on those.
The grasshopper warbler was a young bird. It wasn’t carrying any fat, and had a fairly pronounced sternum, so hopefully it will feed up before moving on.
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| Grasshopper warbler (Charlie Sargent) |
We are now nearing the next notional target for the year, 3,000 new birds for the site in 2014. A breakdown of current totals is below:
| Species | New | Re-trapped | Total |
| Sparrowhawk | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Woodpigeon | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Kingfisher | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
11 | 25 | 36 |
| Sand Martin | 14 | 0 | 14 |
| Swallow | 382 | 0 | 382 |
| House Martin | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Tree Pipit | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| Meadow Pipit | 41 | 0 | 41 |
| Wren | 48 | 38 | 86 |
| Dunnock | 46 | 61 | 108 |
| Robin | 89 | 52 | 141 |
| Stonechat | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Blackbird | 22 | 17 | 39 |
| Song Thrush | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Cetti’s Warbler |
22 | 10 | 32 |
| Grasshopper Warbler |
6 | 0 | 6 |
| Sedge Warbler | 116 | 10 | 126 |
| Reed Warbler | 144 | 23 | 167 |
| Lesser Whitethroat |
2 | 0 | 2 |
| Whitethroat | 41 | 4 | 46 |
| Garden Warbler | 21 | 1 | 22 |
| Blackcap | 290 | 16 | 306 |
| Wood Warbler | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Chiffchaff | 125 | 6 | 131 |
| Willow Warbler | 92 | 7 | 99 |
| Goldcrest | 42 | 1 | 43 |
| Long-tailed Tit |
16 | 5 | 21 |
| Marsh Tit | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| Coal Tit | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Blue Tit | 222 | 228 | 450 |
| Great Tit | 97 | 138 | 235 |
| Treecreeper | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Magpie | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Starling | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Chaffinch | 135 | 34 | 169 |
| Greenfinch | 287 | 70 | 357 |
| Goldfinch | 304 | 88 | 392 |
| Siskin | 60 | 55 | 115 |
| Bullfinch | 15 | 11 | 26 |
| Reed Bunting | 126 | 71 | 197 |
| Total: | 2855 | 979 | 3836 |
An excellent year to date.
It would be good to catch another couple of late long distance migrant warblers, a few more Cetti’s warblers (as the Teifi RG have had some very interesting controls) and to sneak up to 300 blackcaps for the year. However, as always at this time of year, we will lose more sessions to weather than previously, so it is difficult to predict how we will go from here.
Thanks to Charlie Sargent for company, assistance and telling me how to spell his surname!
Owain Gabb
06/10/14
Good effort and well done with the Gropper