Monday, July 10, 2023

Testing Times

The thunderstorm of Saturday moved north and east from here in coastal Lancashire and headed across the Pennines to disrupt the Headingley Test Match. There was less cricket to watch on TV but the Sunday forecast was unimpaired; a dry, bright morning with 2-5 mph and the prospect of a ringing session following weeks of inactivity. 

The rain was gone when I met up with Will for a brutal 0600 start but high hopes of catching a few warblers. Viewing visits in recent days saw seven or eight singing Reed Warblers and pairs of both Reed Bunting and Sedge Warbler with plenty of feeding activity around their reed bed of choice. Surely by now, early July there would be fresh juveniles aplenty? 

Our own scoreboard saw an improvement with 16 birds caught – 2 recaptures (Wren and a Reed Warbler from 2021) and 14 new birds. 6 Reed Warbler, 2 Blackbird, 3 Great Tit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Robin and 1 Whitethroat. 

Score sheet
 
Of the seven Reed Warblers just two were juveniles, the other five adults, numbers that meant we had scratched the surface, with more juveniles yet to fledge following the very slow start to breeding during the cold weeks of May. Reed Warblers need dense and tall reeds in which to hide their nests suspended between solid reed stems, growth that was sluggish and not to anyone’s liking. 
 
Great Tit

Wren

Blue Tit

Reed Warbler

A single Whitethroat was the other representative of the warbler family with no sight or sound of hoped for Blackcaps, Willow Warblers or Chiffchaffs, never mind more exotica like Lesser Whitethroats or Garden Warblers. The singing Reed Bunting stayed out of range and we never got to see the female buried somewhere in the edge of the reeds on her precious eggs,  

Reed Bunting

Whitethroat

It looks as though we will have to wait a week or two more for post juvenile wanderings to begin in earnest. 

Bird watching in between the ringing provided scant rewards with handfuls only of Goldfinches, Linnets and Swallows plus flybys of Grey Heron and Little Egret. 

Later,  I caught up with the cricket. England beat the Aussies in the Third Test. Now it’s all to play for in the following two games, Old Trafford next and then The Oval for the decider. 

It’s a little like ringing. Playing to win and not giving up. You can’t keep a good team down. 

 

8 comments:

  1. Beautiful set of photos so nice to see them close up. Sound like a reasonable rining session but I realise that you want more young birds.
    The cricket seems to have more downs than ups but we can hope. We are more involved with watching the Tour De France at present.
    We have masses of insects around at the moment the lavender is humming!
    Cheers Diane

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  2. Hello,
    Great outing and sightings. Your bird photos are always lovely to see.
    One of my favorites is the Reed Bunting. They are all beautiful birds, great closeups. Take care, enjoy your day and the week ahead!

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  3. The whitethroat is especially cool - what a delightful little fellow, and I bet his song is a delight to hear if he's like most thrushes.
    Thanks for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-things-kids-do.html

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  4. Your bird photos are ever so delightful, Phil.
    I especially love the Blue Tit.

    Happy Tuesday!

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  5. The reed warbler is a beauty. I will be in Leeds tomorrow so hoping the rain stays away.

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  6. I can only imagine your frustration at being held captive by those dastardly tee-vee weather presenters. Clearly, they don't understand the need for birding and ringing. Hopefully, they will behave themselves the rest of the summer.

    All of your photographs are superb! You show us details we mortals don't normally get to see.

    Interesting situation with the late breeding. Soon, young birds should be hurtling into mist nets to be counted and fitted with the latest in avian jewelry.

    All over here is good. Hot. Humid. Daily thunderstorms, but they are on a schedule so we can work around them. This darned climate change has been increasing heat and humidity regularly between June and September for eons. Something must be done!

    Politicians to the rescue! The installed government party has a plan to "reduce the effect of the sun by creating a space cloud to filter its rays".

    What could possibly go wrong? Ahhh, cooler summers are on the way.

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  7. I enjoyed seeing these birds, the Blue Tit is my favourite.

    All the best Jan

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