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Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society |
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Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society |
The inevitable march towards summer means the sun rises earlier each week, so our meeting time moves further back with each visit. 04.55 today, and another grey, damp morning. Unlike my mood, the birds seem not affected by the overcast conditions, and the sedge warblers seem even more numerous this week. The rate at which vegetation grows at this time of year never ceases to amaze me, the fields are filling up with grass and sedge , and it wont be long before we are wading waist deep through this leafy sea. The water level has risen slightly, following the downpours of the past week, and water is pouring out of the reserve over the sluice gate.
A good catch for the time of year, with 33 birds handled of which 23 were Sedge warblers i.e. 70% of the catch. Of these 9 were new birds, that is to say we hadn’t caught them before, the rest were made up of 9 caught last week, and of the 5 from previous years, 4 were from 2003, and 1 from 2001. One of the four was another juvenile from last year so now two have come back to their natal area. The bird from 2001 is an interesting example of juvenile dispersal, and how ringing can show the extent of dispersal, as well as the age structure of a population. The bird in question N757599 was ringed as a 3J at Frampton on Severn in the breeding season of 2001. The 3 indicated a bird of the year, and the J that it was very young (still in plumage of very young bird) and therefore most likely to have bred in the area. The following year we caught her in breeding condition with a vascularised brood patch, again in 2003, and now again in 2004. This bird was a control when we first caught her, and on the ringing details form I received it stated she had moved a distance of 22 kilometres, i.e. the distance from Frampton to Ashleworth. What a joke! She has been to Africa and back 3 times.
Redstart female - the first of the season
Other birds of note caught this morning were: the first Redstart of the season (a female that had hatched last year) and another Whitethroat. Apart from Sedge warblers, the chorus was muted this week, no doubt due to the weather, but it was particularly noticeable that the Reed buntings, that had been singing so well last week, and standing tall on many vantage points, were conspicuous by their absence. Is this because they were all paired up and incubating, so gone quiet, or had there been a number of passage birds last week singing temporarily. Whatever the reason there seems to be plenty of birds about, so we are anticipating a good season, lets hope that the weather hasn’t got other plans.
The curlew made only a few bubbling calls this week, and a Green woodpecker made its “yaffling” call a couple of times, but otherwise it was remarkably quiet. Even the milking parlour at Colways farm starting up at 05.40 and the dogs in the kennels seemed quiet today.
An introduction to the Ashleworth ringing programme can be found here.
The first of Mervyn's reports covering the first visit on 18th April 2004 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 2nd May 2004 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 9th May 2004 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 23rd May 2004 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 4th June 2004 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 13th June 2004 can be found here.
The report covering the visit on 26th June 2004 can be found here.
The report covering the visits during July 2004 can be found here.
The report covering the visits on 5th August 2004 can be found here.
The report covering the visits on 15th August 2004 can be found here.
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