The forecast for the day was for it to start dry, with rain coming in by 11:00. Fortunately, it was as reliable as ever and I managed to get a full session in, packed away and home before there was even a sniff of rain. The breeze did get up, but only as I was packing away.
Once again, I was restricted to working in the wildlife refuge so I didn’t mix with the general public. I tried a new net position this time, having cut a short ride between the entrance gate and the lakeside: just long enough to take a 9m net. This was a successful move, with that net catching one-fifth of the total.
It was a more productive session than recent ones, with a total of 36 birds from 13 species. The list for the day was: Treecreeper 1; Great Tit 2; Long-tailed Tit 1; Wren 1; Dunnock 1(1); Robin 1; Song Thrush 2(1); Blackbird 1; Cetti’s Warbler (1); Blackcap 13(2); Garden Warbler 3(1); Chiffchaff 3; Bullfinch (1).
So, not a huge catch but, significantly it contained mainly juveniles: 20 of the 36. This included first juveniles for the year of Treecreeper, Song Thrush, Wren, Long-tailed Tit and Garden Warbler:
The session was steady throughout, from nets open at 6:00 until 9:30, whereupon it became much slower. I would have packed up earlier, but I was rather blocked in by the arrival of another delivery of Brown Trout for Mallard Lake. This is totally coincidental, and accidental, as they were scheduled to make the delivery last week, but it is also the second time our visits have over-lapped, when the intention was for them to entirely separate. It seems that they top up the stocks four times every year: April, May and June and again after the season finishes in September. It is nice to know that the Otters are being well fed!
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 