CES 8: Lower Moor Farm, Friday, 21st July 2023

Finally, a CES session that produced more birds than the equivalent session last year (even if it was only by one more bird and two more species). I was joined by Rosie, who could stay until work demanded her attendance at 9:00, and later in the morning by Teresa and Adam. This meant that I had help to set up and help to take down!

As ever, we had the first nets open soon after 6:00, but the first birds didn’t arrive until just after 7:00. As we were walking back from the first round we were treated to a burst of song from a Grasshopper Warbler. I am not aware that the species has previously been recorded at this site.

The first bird out of the nets was our first juvenile Cetti’s Warbler of the year:

In the first hour we caught 14 birds in three net rounds. For the next 90 minutes we caught just three birds in four net rounds. It was looking like another disappointing session until, at 10:30, that round produced 19 birds. The next three rounds produced just one more bird and we shut the nets at 11:30.

The list for the day was: Blue Tit [3]; Great Tit [1]; Long-tailed Tit [3](1); Wren [3]; Dunnock [2](1); Robin [3](2); Song Thrush (1); Blackbird 1[1](1); Cetti’s Warbler [1]; Blackcap [3](3); Garden Warbler [1]; Chiffchaff [5]; Bullfinch 1. Totals: 2 adults ringed from 2 species, 26 juveniles ringed from 11 species and 9 birds recaptured from 6 species, making 37 birds processed from 14 species.

The only adults in the catch were the Bullfinch, the retrapped Blackbird, Song Thrush and Blackcap. All of the other recaptured birds were juveniles.

One of the most interesting facets of the morning were the trout in Mallard Lake. They spent the morning leaping out of the lake, presumably in pursuit of insects flying over. When you see the size of these full grown Rainbow Trout leaping clear of the water and splashing back down it really makes an impact!

There was one sad find right at the beginning of the session. As Rosie and were erecting the last of the nets she found a dead Whitethroat adjacent to where we were setting the net. It had clearly been there a few days as some of the soft parts had been scavenged. It wasn’t a ringed bird and we have not actually caught a single Whitethroat at the site this year, so nothing to do with us, and very sad.