Keep ‘Em Guessing

It was a good few weeks since the last full netting session at Out Rawcliffe so Will and I didn’t know quite what to expect. In the event our morning turned out to be both interesting and productive, with our first fledged juvenile (3J) caught. Most surprising were several more adult Whitethroats, newly arrived in the plantation since the previous 16 Whitethroats caught here during fairly intensive ringing during April and early May.

Our total came to 24 birds, 10 new and 14 recaptures which included a large proportion of warblers. New: 7 Whitethroat (6 adults and 1 newly fledged juvenile), 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Blackbird and 1 Goldfinch, also a newly fledged bird.

Recaptures: 9 Whitethroat, 4 Sedge Warbler and 1 Willow Warbler. It was a little curious that we caught one Willow Warbler today, and whilst there may be females still sat on eggs or small young, we know of at least one completed nest with mobile young, plus we would usually expect to catch a few food gathering adults; we wondered if the cold, strong and persistent winds of the last three weeks have affected Willow Warbler productivity through the lack of suitable insect food? The next session or two should tell us.

The one Whitethroat nest we checked contained young too small to ring, but catching one newly emerged juvenile Whitethroat and watching other adults carrying food to hidden nests suggests that most Whitethroat nests have more days to go. There’s no sign of 3J Sedge Warblers yet.

Sedge Warbler
Whitethroat
"3J" Goldfinch
Whitethroat nest

So, all in all it was a stimulating session, and once again those mysterious birds simply keep us guessing most of the time.

Other birds seen today: 1 Little Owl, 2 Buzzard, a displaying Curlew, 2 Reed Bunting, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Stock Dove, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 40 House Sparrow, 20 Swallow, 8 House Martin.