CES6, half way through the season. Today it was generally over cast with light wind which did start to pocket the nets a little in the last hour of the session.
The total birds caught was 22 across 12 species, but it was a session of juveniles.
|
Species
|
New
|
New 3J
|
Re-trap
|
Total
|
|
Robin
|
|
2
|
|
2
|
|
Blackbird
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
3
|
|
Cettis Warbler
|
|
|
1
|
1
|
|
Wren
|
|
3
|
|
3
|
|
Blackcap
|
2
|
1
|
|
3
|
|
Chiffchaff
|
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
|
Whitethroat
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
Blue tit
|
1
|
|
|
1
|
|
Bullfinch
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
Goldcrest
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
Treecreeper
|
1
|
2
|
|
3
|
|
Dunnock
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
Totals
|
5
|
14
|
3
|
22
|
One of the star birds today was the capture of this juvenile Whitethroat. On CES5 we also caught one, and prior to that it was 2011 when the last juvenile was caught. This, as well as the rest of the juveniles in the chart is an excellent indicator that these birds are breeding locally somewhere on the site.
This Chiffchaff was the re-trap, originally caught on CES1 on the 4th May and aged as a bird born last year. The Chiffchaff below was this years juvenile and is a very green/yellow in colour.
The biggest surprise of the day was the capture of this adult Treecreeper (in the middle) and two of its juveniles all caught together at the same time a few feet apart. It was very noticeable how long the beak was of the adult compared to its young. Having young and adults together gave us the opportunity to examine the differences in plumage of both ages which also helps our trainees better understand these differences.
The re-trap Blackbird was originally caught as a 3J on the 10th July 2009 which makes it 6 years old. The typical lifespan of a Blackbird is 3 years and the oldest recorded bird is 14 years 2 months and 1 day. Our bird has a way to go yet.
Todays session was run by Heather Coats, Charlie Sargent and Phil Mead.
