In a spell of windy days it was great to have a calm morning on Wednesday this week allowing a visit to the best site for catching Bearded Tits. We were not disappointed, for we caught this years record catch of 14 of which 11 were new birds all probably this years young. One of the retraps was an adult which we had not recorded this year, bringing our totals to 16 adult males and 10 adult females and 26 young birds. We normally add more adults to the totals this time of year from grit tray sightings of our colour ringed birds.
The other major catch was 18 Reed Buntings all new birds. It appears to have been a good year for this species for we have ringed 154 this year so far, compared to just 58 last year. We caught surprisingly few tits just one Blue Tit, one Great Tit and three Coal Tits. Flocks normally move into the reed beds at this time of year to exploit the insects over wintering in the reed stems, however there is so much food available in the surrounding woodlands with all tree species producing a bumper harvest.
John
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