Mist netting & Sand Martin Cliff

This post will cover another 3 sessions.....

On Sunday 22/6/25 a team of 4 put up 4 nets in the reed bed in front of the Discovery Hut. We caught 23 birds, including a Reed Warbler originally ringed as an adult on 9/5/19, making it at least 6 years old. The typical life expectancy is 2 years, but it still has a long way to go to reach the oldest known bird of 12 years, 11 months & 21 days. 

The Team

Adult Sand Martin

	Ringed	Re-trapped
Blackcap	1
Cetti’s Warbler		1 (9/1/25)
Chiffchaff	3
Reed Warbler	15	1 (9/5/19)
Robin	1
Sand Martin	1
	21	2

Once the mist nets went quiet, we moved on to ring 5 broods of youngsters in the Sand Martin cliff, where Doug had already spent the morning surveying the nests with an endoscope. 

Endoscoping the young Sand Martins

On Sunday 29/6/25, another session took place at the back of the Sand Martin cliff. It was a busy session with 13 nest boxes being checked, and 11 broods ringed, the remaining 2 broods being too small to ring. We then checked out the condition of the Abberton duck trap which had been removed from the scrape behind the Discovery Hut whilst it was dredged. The trap requires some attention, but hopefully it will be back in operation soon.

Assessing the 'flat-packed' Abberton duck trap....modifications are needed as the water is now deeper.

Today, a team of 5 set 5 nets mainly around the feeder area, but with one in the reed bed to the rear of the Discovery Hut. It was an excellent session with 39 birds of 13 species being caught, mostly youngsters. We caught 5 Sand Martins, including an un-ringned juvenile....I wonder how it escaped our attentions in the cliff!

A  young Song Thrush....we caught 3

The wing of a young Song Thrush

Comparison of Reed Warbler wings: pristine juvenile top, worn adult below

1st Sedge Warbler of the year...a juvenile as shown by the spotty 'necklace'

Pristine wing of the juvenile Sedge Warbler

Juvenile Greenfinch

Wing of the Greenfinch. The thickness of the yellow on the primaries indicates that it's a male.

	Ringed	Re-trapped
Blackbird	1
Blackcap	4
Blue Tit	1
Cettis’ Warbler	1
Chiffchaff	3
Great Tit	1
Greenfinch	1
Reed Warbler	10	2 (17/6/25 x 2)
Robin	1
Sand Martin	4	1 (19/6/25)
Sedge Warbler	1
Song Thrush	3
Wren	3	1
	34	4