26/08/13: the end of a busy bank holiday weekend

I went back to the reed bed site yesterday evening (25/08/13) with my son Jack and Bryn, the dog. The conditions were ideal with no wind to speak of and we soon had the nets up.  We were joined by John G and George P a little while later. I played a warbler/Long-tailed Tit mix on the MP3 lure at first and we soon caught a few Reed Warblers and Blackcaps along with a Chiffchaff. As soon as the first Swallows arrived we switched tracks on the MP3 players to Swallow and closed one of the nets.

The motley crew waiting for the Swallows 25/08/13

The number of Swallows built up as usual and by sunset there were at least 800 over the reed bed. The Hobby wasn't seen and the birds started to settle about half an hour sooner than they had the previous night. We controlled the catch by careful use of the MP3 lures and it wasn't long before we had caught 92 Swallows including a retrap from last year and another control.

I had set up an actinic moth trap in the reed bed which meant I had to go back this morning to check it. I was undecided as to whether I would go early and put some nets up but as it happened I did and it was well worth it. I had 4 nets up from just before sunrise and it soon became apparent that there were plenty of warblers about; the moth trap quickly becoming a secondary consideration. Most of the birds were caught in one of the nets with aid of the MP3 lures with warblers accounting for 51 of the 64 birds caught. A total of 21 Blackcaps were ringed which is an exceptional number for this site.

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

Buoyed up by the success of this morning I went back this evening to make the most of the fine weather and to try for a few more Swallows at the roost. This session produced another 79 new Swallows and 1 control. This brought the number of Swallows ringed this month and for the year to 1,061 and another 6 Swallows ringed elsewhere have been controlled.

Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis).
These often get caught in mist-nets when ringing in reed beds at this time of year.

Ringing totals for 26/08/13

Morning session
Blackcap 21
Blue Tit 7
Bullfinch 1
Chiffchaff 5
Reed Bunting 1 (1)
Reed Warbler 12 (1)
Sedge Warbler 6
Swallow 3
Whitethroat 5
Willow Warbler 1
Total 62 (+2)

Evening session
Swallow 79 (+1 control)
Total 79 (+1 control)

and here are a couple of moths from the day:



The Chevron (Eulithis testate)



Blood-vein  (Timandra comae)

24/08/13 late night update

The wind dropped enough this evening to tempt me out to the Swallow roost. It was almost 8pm before the first birds started to arrive and they stayed much higher over the reed bed than normal. The reason for this soon became apparent when a Hobby appeared and put on quite a show as it chased them around. They eventually dropped in and another 83 new Swallows were caught making the ringing totals out of date already. A Swallow that had been ringed in the roost 2 weeks ago was retrapped showing that some birds hang around for a good while.

Ringing totals for 24/08/13
Swallow 83 (1)
Sand Martin 3
Reed Warbler 2
Total 88 (+1 retrap)

Three men in a reedbed

Just a very quick update and sorry no pictures.
The result of this evening's ringing effort was:
Swallow 145 (+1)
Sand Martin 5
Reed Warbler 9 (+2)
Sedge Warbler 1
Willow Warbler 1
Reed Bunting 1
Total 162 (+3 retraps)

Another ton or so

The weather has not been too good this week but we have managed to catch just over 100 birds since my last post. Two trips to the Swallow roost at Scotman's Flash have produced 91 new Swallows and 1 retrap, 2 Sand Martins and 6 Reed Warblers. Just over 28% of the Swallows were adults which continues the high proportion of adults in the catches. The retrap Swallow had been ringed near my home at Longshaw 5 km away just over a year ago. Another 5 Reed Warblers were caught 13th and 3 of these had not completed their post juvenile moult so should stay around for a while yet and are an indicator of the success of later broods.


Waiting for Swallows

I met up with Kane Brides this afternoon to try and catch and darvic a few Coot at Pennington Flash. For those who know the Steve Coogan character Paul Calf and the use of the phrase 'bag o' shite' you will know why that is appropriate to Coot ringing. It was far too windy really but I still managed to pick up 4 new birds and 2 retraps in a short session which bodes well for better conditions.

Moths haven't featured in my posts for some time now and that is largely due to the abysmal summer weather. I run a moth trap most days but there has been little or nothing to report of late. Silver Ys' being the only migrants with another 2 caught this morning.


Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

The weather looks ok'ish' for the morning but only an early start and time will tell.

Ringing 19/08/12

I went to Longshaw this morning and put up the usual two nets. There didn't seem to be a great deal about other than Willow Warblers which were present in good numbers and clearly moving through. The final tally was:

Willow Warbler 16
Chiffchaff 3
Robin 2
Great Tit 2
Blue Tit 2
Long-tailed Tit 3 (2)
Willow Tit 1
Total 31



Willow Tit (Poecile montanus)

In the evening I went down to Scotmans Flash to see if there was a Swallow roost. After getting myself very wet crossing a ditch in the wrong place I put up just one 60 foot net and played a Swallow lure. There didn't seem to be any Swallows around and I thought I was going to draw a blank. Just as I was thinking about packing up a few small parties started to arrive but these seemed to be reluctant to hang around and quickly moved on. I didn't think I was going to catch anything but then around 100 Swallows eventually gathered and it looked like I could get a reasonable catch after all.

On checking the net a reasonable number of Swallows had been caught and what, at first glance, I assumed to be a Sparrowhawk at the far end. I went to take this out first but was delighted to find it was a Hobby and not a Sparrowhawk. I had not seen this bird at all but it was obviously why the Swallows had been reluctant to hang around at first.



Hobby (Falco subbuteo)

The Swallow tally was 38 new birds and a control making it a very productive evening and more than made up for me getting wet to the waist and eaten by mosquitoes.