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: