This was the ninth session out of twelve in the British Trust for Ornithology’s Constant Ringing effort at Ashleworth, three each month from May to August. This study has been going on at Ashleworth for twenty years now.
Starting before sunrise, it didn’t look, at first sight, as though there were many birds about: little birdsong (just a few bursts of Willow Warbler: were these adult birds having a last session at the end of the summer, or newly hatched young ones, trying out their song for the first time?), nor much sign of bird activity early in the morning; yet the ringing session showed there were still quite a lot of birds about.
Conditions were quite good to start with (overcast, no wind), but unfortunately the wind rose rather earlier than forecast soon after half past seven (the wind makes the nets belly out like galleon sails, so that the birds bounce off instead of getting caught). So the catch, although just above the average for the time of year, was limited to 73 birds; 44 of them were summer visitor warblers all the same; interestingly, the vast majority of them were juveniles (probably locally bred as they were nearly all still in post juvenile moult), so it looked as though most of the adults had moved out already. Birds caught: 1 juvenile Grasshopper Warbler (another indication of local breeding, picture below by Mervyn Greening); 4 Sedge Warblers (all juveniles); 23 Whitethroats (not a single adult); five Blackcaps (one adult); 6 Chiffchaffs (just one adult in moult); 5 Willow Warblers (one adult in moult); plus the usual array of residents: as many as seven Reed Buntings (all juveniles); a single juvenile Great Tit; one juvenile Long-tailed Tit; no Blue Tits; 2 juvenile Treecreepers; one Blackbird; couple of Dunnocks, couple of Robins, five Wrens (all juveniles); three Linnets , three Goldfinches, two Bullfinches.
Other birds on the reserve: 1 Sparrowhawk; 2 Buzzards; 1 Green Sandpiper; one Redstart; about 10 each of House Martins and Swallows hawking insects, probably migrants on their way south; one Raven; a flock of at least 50 Goldfinches (autumn coming!)
No hay has been cut as yet on the reserve (which no doubt gave the Reed Buntings time to raise their second broods). Water levels low on the scrapes, but a nice stand of Flowering Rush in the middle pool.
