Gary, Duncan, Pete S and I made the 5th CES visit on the last day of the period 5 visit window - but only just. The forecast was poor so I was somewhat surprised we made it to the site rather than calling it off because it was raining. We erected the nets in a brisk wind with ominous skies above, it took a while as the vegetation had grown fast since our last visit and clearing that along with searching in vain for two poles ate into the time. It seems that even a private and gated site with a moat is still not a safe enough place to leave our poles!
Not surprisingly the rain started as we were finishing putting up the last net but it only lasted a short time, whisked on by the brisk wind. After that, other than the odd bit of drizzle, we remained dry until we went to take down at the end of the session. Then the heavens opened and we got soaked and had to put away 10 very soggy nets - they are still drying now!
The catch was poor but I think the weather conditions on the day were only partly to blame. We ended on 20 birds including 6 retraps. The 'missing' birds were juvs, of the passerines caught only 44% were juvs, at this time of year I would normally expect the ratio of juvs to adults to be much higher. The best birds were a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Reed Warbler ringed originally in 2007.
Kev
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