Friday 29 June 2018

CES 6 -- where are the migrants?

We completed CES 6 today with an extra early start to beat the heat. A total of 50 birds, 34 new and 16 recaptures.
We would have expected more migrant species like Garden Warblers, Whitethroats and Willow Warblers but only 10 of the 34 new were migrants. Rather nice though were two Redstarts, both males in wing and tail moult. Only 6 adult Redstarts have been ringed at CES on the Teifi Marsh since 2009.


Juveniles of some resident species seem to be around in good numbers particularly Robins and Dunnocks but few Blackbirds.
Other less common juveniles today included a Great Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper and a Kingfisher. 13 juvenile Kingfishers were ringed on the reserve last year so it will be interesting to compare this years total.
We are still not hearing or catching any Cetti's Warblers since the Spring cold spell. It does look like they have moved away from the reserve or perished. At least 6 territories last year around the Marsh last year.
A few more insects are around the reserve this week with several Scarlet Tiger moths on the reed bed edge plants.


Black-tailed Skimmers around the edges of Mallard pond too, a fairly recent coloniser to the Teifi area.

We look forward to the next CES in the hope that a late breeding season for some birds may produce our missing juveniles.

1 comment:

  1. Our Cetti's numbers are low in North Kent too. I think that is the picture all over, suggesting the beast from the east has done for most of them

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