A quiet roost session followed by a relatively quiet morning.
28 August. We tried to lure in some house martins pre-dusk, but as is often the case, they weren’t at all interested. We then switched our attention to swallows and wagtails. The conditions seemed excellent, but unfortunately there were few birds around, and only a small flock of swallows formed, of which we appeared to capture most. Wagtails were notable by their absence.
1 September. A warm morning, but with a light to moderate south-easterly breeze which became more consistently (and irritatingly) moderate as time went on. There appeared to be few birds in the reed bed and fen, so we set some extra nets in some sheltered scrub to up the day total. Grey, white / pied and yellow wagtails were heard moving overhead, and a whimbrel called from the bay a few times during the first two hours of light. Ravens were also moving around; groups of 5-10 were frequently noted over the marsh and adjacent dunes, and soaring buzzards and a goshawk were also seen.
The combined total of 227 over the two visits was made up as follows:
|
Species
Name |
New
|
Recaptured
|
Total
|
|
Blackbird
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
Blackcap
|
12
|
0
|
12
|
|
Blue Tit
|
19
|
10
|
29
|
|
Bullfinch
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
Cetti’s
Warbler |
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
Chaffinch
|
4
|
1
|
5
|
|
Dunnock
|
0
|
8
|
8
|
|
Goldcrest
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
Goldfinch
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
Great
Spotted Woodpecker |
1
|
4
|
5
|
|
Great
Tit |
1
|
26
|
27
|
|
Greenfinch
|
7
|
0
|
7
|
|
Reed
Warbler |
13
|
3
|
16
|
|
Robin
|
2
|
3
|
5
|
|
Sand
Martin |
13
|
0
|
13
|
|
Sedge
Warbler |
5
|
2
|
7
|
|
Siskin
|
4
|
9
|
13
|
|
Sparrowhawk
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
Swallow
|
69
|
0
|
69
|
|
Tree
Pipit |
2
|
0
|
2
|
|
Willow
Warbler |
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
Wren
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
|
Grand
Total |
159
|
68
|
227
|
The highlights were:
- Thirteen sand martins among the swallows. We don’t catch many, and the year total of 44 is already the best for the site to date.
- Two tree pipits. The morning of 2 September was overcast, and conditions were excellent for catching tree pipits until the wind picked up. The birds we caught were both before 08:00; often we don’t start catching them until 08:30. The year total (9) remains very low, reflecting a lack of calm mornings between in mid and late August.
- Our first sparrowhawk of 2018 (and our first since April 2016). A second calendar year male became the fifth of the species to be captured at Oxwich.
Thanks to the combined team of Keith Vaughton, Wayne Morris, Emma Cole, Martin Thomas, Sophie de Grissac, Aurelien Prudor, Richard Dann, Sarah Davies, Bethan Dalton, Jo Conway, Alex McCubbin, Dionne Jenkins, Lara Bates-Prior and Amy Schwartz for company and assistance over the two sessions.
Owain Gabb
02/09/2018
 |
| Sparrowhawk (Bethan Dalton) |
 |
| Tree pipit (Bethan Dalton) |
