Holme Pierrepont, Sunday 21 September

Duncan, Pete and I made a visit to the Grange end of Holme Pierrepont today. A fine, clear morning with very little breeze, we got 7 nets up quickly and then found 2 tents erected, one at the end of one of our usual net rides so we made do with just a couple more nets. As the morning went on, we decided there was either no one inside the tents or they were out for the count.

The site seemed relatively quiet (apart from the singing Cetti’s) but the first few catches were quite good before the breeze got up a little and the sun rose high in the sky. The warblers seem to be mostly gone but it was surprising to get only one Blackcap after the numbers caught in previous weeks.

We finished with 51 birds including 4 retraps made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 1/0, Robin 2/1, Wren 2/1, Dunnock 2/0, Reed Warbler 5/0, Whitethroat 1/0, Blackcap 1/0, Chiffchaff 5/0, Long-tailed Tit 9/1, Blue Tit 2/0, Great Tit 1/1, Bullfinch 4/0, Reed Bunting 12/0. The retraps were all from the this year except the Great Tit which was from 2013.

Overhead passed a few Skylark and Meadow Pipit, two Ravens, two Buzzards, a couple of Grey Wagtails but no hirundines. A few Teal, Wigeon and Gadwall were on the water along with a family of Little Grebes and a Snipe was flushed from the reeds.

Kev

 The back pit still has water cover throughout (just) despite the dry summer, though in most places it is only a few inches deep.

 Five years ago this path had little more than the odd scrubby willow beside it and some group members remember when it was the grassy shoreline of the gravel pit.

 A young Whitethroat having almost completed its post-juvenile moult. The replaced covert is more chestnut than the adjacent juvenile feathers. (All photos PML)