Ty'n-y-Caeau 26.09.2015

     On what was forecast to be a 'relatively' windless morning for the area, Heather Coats and I set out the usual line of nets along the hedgerow. We then added an additional line of three - metre high, two shelf nets - at the edge of the crop margin where I had noticed on a previous visit, that many birds were foraging in the stubble that had remained following the harvest.

     Soon after dawn large flocks of finches began milling over the field in addition to a peregrine falcon and a kestrel that cruised just above the hedgerow scattering the finches in all directions including the nets. 

     The two-shelf nets proved their worth producing a large proportion of the overall total for the morning.  

Willow Warbler

Yellowhammer

By 11:15 the wind began to rise bringing the session to an early end but not before we had captured seventy-two birds with only two re-traps which by chance were the final two birds ringed at the previous visit ten days earlier.

Ty’n-y-Caeau                                26.09.2015
Species	New	Re-traps	Total
Dunnock	2		2
Willow Warbler	1		1
Blue Tit		1	1
Great Tit	1		1
Greenfinch	5		5
Goldfinch	46	1	47
Linnet	13		13
Yellowhammer	2		2
8                                                                            72

Ty'n y Caeau 17/9/2015

After preparing the ride and setting up the net poles last week in rather windy conditions, it was excellent for Cedwyn and Chris to have an early chance at ringing in almost perfect conditions at TyC.  Absolutely no wind and slightly overcast with birds in evidence on arrival we had great hopes and have to say we weren't disappointed.
A slight problem at the start was that the final bamboo pole to be set up broke which meant we only had 1 less 40' net than intended. Total span today was 5x60' & 1x40'. We may have to look into obtaining more poles as the remaining bamboos feel distinctly fragile.
The first two rounds were calm but productive and as said earlier there were plenty of birds, a mixed flock of probably 200 - though my counting of swirling groups of them is not good - see if you can estimate how many from the white dots in the photo below of about half of them that landed in a tree at the bottom corner of the field. Unfortunately only had my iPhone to get a picture.

I'll take a proper camera next time

Anyway the morning picked up quickly and we finally had a total of 89 birds which after recent CES sessions was a real shock to the system. If we'd had the extra net up, we may have had to make excuses to our respective wives for a much later return home than planned.
The catch included this Stonechat which was the first we had actually seen at Ty'n y Caeau.

OK - I was concentrating on the bird not the horizon!

So here's hoping the autumn sessions can keep up this level of entertainmant.

Totals for the day:

CES 12 - Kenfig 4/9/2015 - The end of a very poor CES year

Perfect conditions to start but the results just didn't do it justice. Suffice to say that the totals for the day matched those for the year and a quick look at the comparison shows it all in grim relief.

This years session totals compared with the average 1997-2014, which contained a number of poor years. ( see all the CES results on link at right)

 The only cheer was that it did contain a large proportion of juveniles which hints at continued breeding success, but where have all the birds gone?

Totals for the day:

So that's it for CES for another year, so lets get off to Ty'n-y- Caeau, and hope for better results.