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:

28/5/2016 - CES 3 - More of the same

Not much change in the numbers of birds even though at the outset the weather looked perfect. So where are the birds.
The wind did get up substantially later in the session which may have had an affect.


Totals for the day :

17/5/16 - CES 2 - An Eggciting Upward Trend.

05:30 - perfect - No wind and overcast.
Heather and Chris had the standard net runs up in short order. Now lets wait for the birds.
Another quiet morning with small numbers  but from the results you can see the substantial 8.5% increase in bird numbers for the CES ride from last week - a pleasing trend. The fact that it only represents 1 more bird is perhaps less inspiring. Let's hope the juveniles start appearing soon as most birds had brood patches in evidence.
Later in the morning there was the threat of rain which didn't actually materialize but the wind did get up a little earlier than initially predicted.
Dave joined us to assist with the clearing up and had found an egg on the path to the ride. ID not known.
Any guesses?

The smart money says COOT but not really sure

Totals for the Day:

12/5/16 - CES 1 - Another Season Begins

Dave and Chris arrived on what was a perfect morning for ringing. Overcast and no wind at all.

Kenfig from the car park

CES Ride.

We set about putting up the standard run of 6x18m nets on the CES ride. After the previous days rain the already high water level was a challenge. Waist waders only just up to the challenge at the far end of the ride. Even though we had spent a few hours earlier in the month setting up the poles we still had to make a few minor adjustments.
As can be seen we will have to do some "gardening' along trhe ride in the near future.










Next we set up the additional 2x18m run of nets at WPS ride, as we were not expecting too much in the CES nets.

As the observant will note this ride too is very wet.

 

With everything ready.

 Let's get  this session going.









We were soon ringing birds.
But not to get everyone too excited we did only end up with a fairly modest total but a selection of species. The session was marred by a short sharp downpour at about 7am but luckily we had the two birds out quickly and furled the nets.
It only lasted about 5 minutes and then the rest of the morning was a mixture of bright and hazy sunshine.

Some highlights

 A Cetti's Warbler displaying its trademark tail.









  



Then a favourite bird the Lesser Whitethroat.

White crescent in iris shows the bird to be an adult.

Totals for the day:

 

Kenfig - 11/3/2016

Just a quick entry to keep up to date.
Cedwyn, Chris started at first light for a short session. All done by 09:30

Totals for the day:

Kenfig NNR - 29/2/16

First session of the year at Kenfig NNR. Cedwyn and Chris decided that it was time to check if the regular feeding that Dave was doing adjacent to the centre car park was having the desired effect, namely to tempt in the local Reed Bunting population.

It was pretty cool to set up at just before dawn at 06:30, cool meaning -5C, so the extra thermal layers were pretty essential.

Just 2 lines of 60' net were put up as we needed to be away by around 9am.

The first net round was an immediate indication of the effect of plying them with millet, as there were 9 REEBU in for an early feed plus a blackbird.

The Reed Bunting formed the majority of the catch which, all in all, we regarded as a reasonable success for the short session.

Totals for the day: