On Sunday, Kev, Gary, Holly, Josh and myself made the sixth and final visit to the Delta area of Attenborough Nature Reserve as part of the 2024 CES. The weather was as forecast, fine and light winds, so we were keeping fingers crossed for a good catch to close the season. We set the usual 10 nets, plus Gary and Holly set an additional net (away from CES area) to try and catch one of the cuckoos calling overhead. Although the cuckoos kept calling all morning, none found the net.
The CES catch was also limited, as has been the pattern of all 6 sessions, but at least we had several juvenile birds. Totals for the day were as follows: Wren 2, Treecreeper 1, Chiffchaff 2, Reed Warbler 8, Cetti’s Warbler 1, Great Tit 4, Blue Tit 2, Dunnock 4, Blackbird 1, Blackcap 1, Jay 1.
Bird of the day was of course the Jay, which we thought might be a recapture of the bird originally ringed a couple of sessions ago. However, it turned out to be a bird originally caught on 23/05/21, which and had not been caught again until now.
The team then removed all kit from the site, to close out the 2024 CES season.
Given the low numbers of birds during the CES visits that I attended this year (all numbers low, not just migrants and juveniles), I asked Kev for his overall impression of the 2024 season. He confirmed that this CES season has been the worst in the last 10 completed seasons, except for 2018. This year we had only 148 captures (not individuals). In 2018 we had 143 captures but 4 of the 2018 visits were affected by poor weather conditions (weather was not an issue this year). The average catch between 2014 to 2021 was 220, whereas in the last 3 completed seasons the average has been 163 (down by approx 25%.)
So, let's hope for a better CES season in 2025.
Sue
No comments:
Post a Comment