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Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society |
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Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society |
I had been watching the weather forecasts since Wednesday, and had almost made up my mind that Sunday would be the day. Late Friday evening, however, Aeolus “bagged” the winds, the cloud cover looked settled, so I made a couple of phone calls, and made arrangements for Saturday. What a good decision it turned out to be. Near perfect conditions when we arrived at 04.25. Seven eighths cloud cover, and no wind to speak of. This is as early as it needs to be, as the summer solstice will have passed by the next visit. “Kamikaze” rabbits have joined suicide squads of Blackbirds on the way. Its just as well there is no one else on the road when I drive to Ashleworth; my weaving in and out would no doubt cause some consternation to other road users.
Nets up nice and quickly, no aurora today with the cloud cover so no distraction. One of the local farmers had cut a hay field rather early! The lamentation of the Curlew that had bred there was with us all morning. On the positive side, it also made the calls associated with young on the ground, so perhaps some survived. Early hay cutting is as damaging as Silage cutting. The week between Ascot and Wimbledon is a critical week for ground nesting birds, a lovely quote from a local farmer. All around were the calls of young birds and much activity was also visible.
We ended up handling 17 species, catching 74 new birds and 18 retraps, giving us the best June total we have had. This is double the mean average catch for this visit, and the nearest to it was in 1999 when 68 birds were caught. As expected most of the retraps were Sedge warblers, including 4 young birds that had been ringed as pulli 15 days earlier. The father of this brood was the first sedge warbler caught this year on the 10th of April. It goes to show that the early arrivals get a good head start in the breeding stakes. No other young Sedge Warblers were caught, however, lots of young boosted the catch, including: 13 Reed Buntings, 10 Great Tits, and 13 Blue Tits. Other young birds caught were Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Linnet, Lesser Whitethroat, Dunnock, Redstart, Whitethroat, Blackbird, Wren and Treecreeper. The Redstart was with both of its parents, these being the first of the year. Unusual catches for us were 5 Reed Warblers, (late arrivals? The vegetation has grown a lot in the last couple of weeks) and a Green Woodpecker.
For some birds autumn has arrived, with post breeding moult detected in Willow warblers and Blue tits. The territories of the Reed Buntings appears to have broken down, with three new adults ringed, presumably they are following the dispersal of their young which scatter through the grass, the adults continuing to feed them long after they have left the nest. There are now 17 reed buntings with colour rings on, 14 of which are males. 4 of these are seen regularly.
2 new adult Sedge Warblers were caught, bringing the total so far this year to 37 handled. 20 of these are males, 11 females, the remainder only caught once before reaching breeding condition.
It was interesting how much song there was today, considering how late in the season it is. Several Willow warblers (5) (more than earlier in the season) were singing, presumably these are going on breeding with late broods, despite us finding some Willow Warblers that had given up on breeding for this year. Redstarts continue to sing around the reserve, and our Cuckoos are still advertising, with a female heard giving her bubbling call, showing that she is still laying; presumably parasitising Reed Warblers now, as most of the Sedge must be nearing end of incubation, or have young by now.
The full list for the visit: Great spotted woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Buzzard, Curlew,, Wood pigeon, Skylark, Swallow, Redstart, Blackbird, Sedge warbler, Reed warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Willow warbler, Chiffchaff, Blue tit, Great tit, Tree creeper, Rook, Jackdaw, Jay, Magpie, carrion crow, Linnet, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Reed bunting, Yellowhammer, Dunnock, Wren, and Grey Heron.
Insect life was particularly noticeable today. We were bitten badly by horse flies, a species I have not noticed previously, but they made their presence felt today. The humid warm weather lately has presumably benefited them. A few damsel flies were on the wing, plus a couple of butterflies, including a Green Hairstreak. As mentioned earlier the vegetation has gone mad lately, with lots of growth. The wild roses are flowering well, and the grasses are in bloom producing pollen by the nose full.
The joy of ringing on a Saturday morning is that our finishing time coincides with the opening time of the Boat. To get there today involved driving through drifts of “snow” off the poplar trees.
The first of Mervyn's reports covering the visit on 10th April 2005 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 1st May 2005 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 15th May 2005 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 29th May 2005 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 5th June 2005 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 18th June 2005 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 26th June 2005 can be found here.
You can also read about the CES programme at Ashleworth in 2004 here.
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