Having planned to have a few earlier session, for one reason or another I had not been able to get out to Gedling CP until August. It started well on the 10th when I set the usual 2 nets from last season in the scrub to the west of the park. The first couple of rounds were very busy with the smaller 9m net in particular picking up a big tit flock early on. There was a good proportion of warblers however, with a decent number of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler, along with Blackcap and Whitethroat. A Tree Pipit was a surprise catch, the site has produced records of this species in the past and I have targeted them previously with no success, but it certainly looks good for them. On my final round I approached the same net, and the first thing I saw was a Redstart in the bottom of the net. This is a species that often eludes me on passage, but August is a good time for them locally, and it is the first full-grown bird I have had the pleasure of ringing.
I returned a few days later, anticipating another busy day, but had to be satisfied by a smaller catch of 25 birds. This was much more manageable on my own but it did feel a little quiet compared to a few days ago. There were still a few Pylloscs captured but only one Blackcap and a couple of Whitethroat. Perhaps passage had been slowed a bit by the few days of very hot weather?
My final session of the month was on the 22nd. There seemed to be a lot of Willow Warblers around during the week, observed around and about whilst I was at work, so I was hopeful of a decent catch. I was a little disappointed by the lack of warblers however, with only a small number of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff ringed, and no Sylvia warblers. It was pleasant to ring a juvenile male Green Woodpecker however - the first I've handled in over a decade!
I'm generally quite pleased with the site, although the catches are often dominated by Blue Tits and Long-tailed Tits at times. It does seem a good area for Willow Warbler and visits in the spring are full of their song, so I am happy with that as they are not especially common elsewhere in the local area. It does seem a little quiet here for other warblers though, more Blackcaps have been around this year, but still in small numbers, but I have yet to capture Garden Warbler, and Acros have been completely absent although they are present in other areas of the country park.
It will be interesting to see whether birds continue to move through during September. Hopefully I'll manage to squeeze in at least another couple of sessions over the next few weeks.
Totals for August (new/retrap):
Blue Tit 43/4, Willow Warbler 17/-, Chiffchaff 16/1, Long-tailed Tit 11/1, Great Tit 11/-, Blackcap 7/-, Whitethroat 4/-, Goldfinch 2/- and singles of Goldcrest, Green Woodpecker, Redstart, Robin, Tree Pipit and Wren.
Tom
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| Tree Pipit |
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| Redstart |
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| Redstart |
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| Goldcrest |
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| Green Woodpecker |
