After a period of lower numbers than usual there was a sudden upturn this weekend with 35 Sedge Warblers caught compared with 26 Reed Warblers, the first time this year that Sedge Warblers have been the most abundant. Even so total numbers for the year at 225 are down by just a hundred on 2013 where as Reed Warblers at 960 are 80 up on 2013.
This weekend saw two Bearded Tit catches including two new birds one of which was in juvenile plumage and had only just started to moult so it must have fledged in early August. To date we have ringed 58 juveniles compared to 48 in 2013 and just17 in 2012.
I always find it interesting to compare the numbers we catch with previous years given that our ringing effort is similar each year. Certainly for most species that we handle in sufficient numbers to give a meaningful comparison, this year looks like a very productive one for both residents and migrants. To quote a few figures- Blue Tit 327 against 212 in the whole of 2012, Willow Warbler an increase from 173 to 349, Goldcrest 33 this year only 23 last year , Robin 32 compared with just 11 last year and autumn is usually best for these last two.
John
No comments:
Post a Comment