23/6/2016 - CES 5 - A Better Day

Dave, Cedwyn, and Chris took advantage of a break in the dreadful weather to get CES 5 done albeit a day late.
With no wind and little sun it was all set for a good session, with the usual nets up by 06:10.
We were rewarded with an better catch than we have had so far this CES season, and also well up on the equivalent session last year, though it may be premature to think things overall will be improved over recent seasons.

Releasing birds from the net can on occasion be challenging but the skill can be honed to perfection by some of the other creatures needing to be released. Last session included a number of dragonfly which I should have mentioned were expertly dealt with by Wayne, and this week another task was to remove other invertebrates.
First up was a an Early Bee, happily a male so didn't have to worry about being stung.
The second was a Bee Beetle which as I hope you will agree from the photo was well worth the effort, they are quite pretty and again there is no sting to be concerned about. The dragonflies can give you a bit of a nip.

"Bee"ing freed from the net

"you looking at me???"

Totals for the day:

3/6/2016 - CES 4 - Some added interest this morning.

Cedwyn,Wayne and Chris met at before 05:30 and had the nets up just on 6am. Somewhat overcast at first but it was soon bright and sunny, with almost no wind.
Small catches each net round at least kept us entertained and interestingly we had 3 bullfinch which are not regular birds for the site.
  
We had seen what is probably the most abundant bird on the reserve, whitethroat, around the area adjacent to the ringing table, but we don't catch large numbers of them in the CES nets. Wayne did however spot  a pair obviously feeding a brood. On closer inspection he found the nest and we were able to ring 5 pulli. They were relatively well feathered, and well attended by the parent birds, so it will be interesting to see if they are retrapped later in the season, or in future years.

Totals for the day: