A Difficult Season

The recent torrential rain has raised the water levels at Leighton Moss to a record summer high and several of our ringing sites are inaccessible. We managed a short session this morning with fewer nets than usual and a later start due having to spend twenty minutes bailing out the boat. We caught our first juvenile Sedge Warbler along with a few Juv.Reed warblers. But the only Bearded Tit was an adult female and we did not hear any other birds in what is usually one of our best sites for juvenile Bearded Tits. I rather fear that the rise in the water tables last month had flooded out the majority of the nests. Reed Warblers also appeared scarce with none of the usual calling from the reeds. The bird of the morning though was Reed Warbler R510202 it was ringed as a juvenile in August 2003 so it is nine years old. This is the third oldest Reed Warbler in our study only being beaten by two ten year old birds. Interestingly it had not been re-trapped since 2009. Reed Warblers are well known for surviving well compared with other warblers. Of the two other species we ring in good numbers, Sedge and Willow Warblers, our record stands at five years for both species. John