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Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society |
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Gloucestershire Naturalists' Society |
Arrived at 04.20 and sleepily tried to put two right foot wellingtons on. It doesn’t work, and what has happened to my size 7 left wellie? I had to give up on the waterproof footwear and climb instead into my old walking boots. In doing this I forgot to put my over trousers on – a big mistake. We had not gone 50 metres before I was soaked to the skin, and too pig headed to go back and put the waterproofs on. I could have waded through a stream and got no wetter. The discomfort for the next three hours will stay with me, and I will always wear my trusty over trousers in future. The grass that was responsible for my soaking is now over five feet tall in places, and very dense. The walking is difficult and tiring.
After the walk across the fields we set to putting the nets up, and by the last net the sun was pushing above the horizon and starting to burn the mist off. At the top end of the reserve we were greeted by the “banging pebble” calls of our Stonechats. However, where there had only been two last visit, now there were definitely two and possibly three juvenile birds, all joining in with the calling adults. The astonishing thing was that despite all their activity in the vicinity of a complex of three nets, not one was caught. Nevertheless a good breeding record for Ashleworth.
The first checking of the nets was surprisingly slow, with only a couple of Sedge warblers, until we got to net 1 where a family of Great tits had blundered into the net. Both adults and 6 newly flying young were caught; the adults having been ringed last year. The second round was better, with Willow warbler, Chiffchaff, Reed bunting, and blackbird adding to the usual Sedge warblers, but two bonuses as well. The first Reed warbler of the year, and a control to boot(when I hear where it has come from I will add it to the list of controls), and another family of Redstarts, again being looked after the adult male, and again he was a bird we had caught last year, this time as an adult. An adult Reed bunting caught this morning was interesting in that she is getting to look more like a male each time we catch her. Today she was in egg with a clearly defined brood patch, but if you had seen her in the field, you might have passed her off as a male.
A second adult Willow warbler was the first migrant of the year to be in post breeding moult. This bird had dropped primaries 10, 9, and 8 with ten nearly fully re-grown, 9 half-grown and eight just a start of the pin from which the feather grows. Most of our adult migrants undergo a moult before migrating back to their winter quarters, the exceptions being Acrocephalus warblers such as Sedge and Reed warblers.
Sixteen of the twenty-four birds ringed this morning, were juveniles, including two Robins, 6 Great tits, 1 Chiffchaff, 4 redstarts, 1 Reed bunting, 1 Chaffinch and a Blue tit. Twenty-one birds were retrapped giving a total of 45 birds altogether. 2 new adult Sedge warblers brought the number caught so far this year up to 42.
Our local Curlew was vocal for a while, and made us wonder if it had young on the ground. A cuckoo briefly advertised, and one was seen, but they seem to have passed the peak of their activity. The succession of plants is moving on, the large tracts of yellow from the Irises are diminishing, and areas of meadow sweet are now appearing, with some large patches of various vetches. All the grasses are flowering well, and producing copious amounts of pollen. As you walk behind someone you can see the clouds of pollen being shaken out of the flower heads. Sorrel is causing a couple of the meadows to appear red with their flowering stems sticking up above the grass. Reed buntings are again more obvious, with some males singing, and others sharing the feeding duties with females.
Having started the morning soaking wet and cold, by eight ‘O’ clock the grass was dry, and I too was beginning to simmer. By nine it was warm enough to go into shirt sleeve order, and all too soon it was time to pack up. The water level in the main drainage ditch is monitored and controlled as part of the management plan for the reserve, and on our way back across to the cars, we removed another board from the sluice, allowing the water levels to drop further, and the summer drying out of the fields to continue, such is the cycle of the seasons at Ashleworth.
The pub doesn’t open until twelve on Sundays, and there was a test match to watch, so straight home. With such early starts that are necessary at this time of year, I enjoy a Siesta in the afternoons!
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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