CES 6 - Kenfig 29/6/2015 - A Distinct Improvement

Before you get carried away by the positive title, the distinct improvement is pretty modest. A total of 18 birds in the CES nets this morning was welcome after the paltry total last session (7). A quick look at the results will show that overall for the year to date the number of birds ringed is 2 fewer than the previous lowest at the half way stage (77 versus 79 in 2013, when in fact there were 2 sessions missed).

Enough of the gloom. Cedwyn, Phil and Chris met at 05:30, greeted by favourable conditions if slightly breezy. The nets were all set by 06:10 and a juvenile WILWA was in before we had left the ride.

A steady trickle of birds throughout the morning kept us interested and of note were the:
 

Bullfinch

Long-tailed Tit

Another juvenile Willow Warbler seemed reluctant to leave the scene and sat watching us from the tree behind the ringing table so I took the opportunity to take quick piccie:

An interested onlooker

I should add that Cedwyn should be credited for a large number the pictures used in the blog (usually the better ones).
Totals for the day:

CES 5 - Kenfig 19/6/2015 - A Very Poor Result

Well let's start with the good news;
We caught a few juveniles

WILWA

ROBIN

and we caught a few adults

WHITE

We also had a new addition to the team, to improve the organisation and stop me having to fish my mobile out of my waders at regular intervals.

Possibly a Firecrest subspecies - Tempus metiri

Other notable sitings were;

Dark Green Fritillary - Argynnis aglaja

Black-tailed Skimmer - Orthetrum cancellatum

Lets end with the bad news;
Not much to say about the birds today - The total catch was small with only 11 birds caught all morning. The equivalent session last year caught 60. It could have been the weather, which after being completely windless at 06:00 was very blustery by 09:00. It would be good to think that the wind was the reason for the low numbers but we do have our doubts.

Total for the day:

CES 4 - Kenfig 14/6/2015

Both putting the nets up and taking them down today presented different difficulties, but all add to the "joys" of getting up by 5am and spending the morning at Kenfig. Wayne and Chris arrived at 05:30 on what were perfect conditions (at last) and set about setting the nets. The replacement net that last session had worked perfectly was for some inexplicable reason 6' longer than it had been. This meant we had to reset all the permanent lower poles (using permanent in its loosest sense). That was OK but by the time we arrived at the end it meant the installed guy ropes didn't fit. All this reshuffling meant the the nets were finally up at 06:30. You'd think taking the nets down would have been easy, but no, it was all complicated by the fact that dragonflies had decided to take up residence. They are not easy to remove (not in one piece anyway) and it took quite a while to achieve.  Wayne is expecting to receive a Gold Award from the RSPCD (if such an organisation exists) for the expert removal.

Four-spotted Chaser Libellula quadrimaculata - about to be released.

Tragopogon pratensis

Some interesting plants were spotted along with a number of butterflies including Dark Green Fritillary, but they are far too difficult to photograph with a phone and when you are supposed to be ringing.

Euphrasia sp.

Oh! what about the ringing?
Things were an improvement over the last few sessions although the number of migrants was rather poor. The morning's catch was bolstered by a family of Great Tits in the additional nets (WPS) and a family of Long Tail Tits in the CES ride.
The day ended with us listening to a Cuckoo in the vicinity of the CES ride.

Totals for the Day: