Shamefully I hadn't managed to get out ringing to Wraysbury yet this year before today so it was very nice to be able to catch up with everyone in person and not just via the odd email or two.
At a rather more civilised time than when I go to FP, my mum and I arrived at Wraysbury at 05.45 and after everyone else had arrived we headed over to our ringing area and proceeded to set up the nets. It took a while but time passed quickly and it was then time to do the first net rounds.
I went with one other person to check nets 10 and 20. There was one bird in the first net so we extracted it and then moved on to the second net. At a glance it didn't look like there was anything in it but as we walked along it, I noticed a smallish bird in the bottom shelf near the end of the net so I made sure there was nothing else in the net before walking to the bird near the end. At first I thought it was just a Reed Warbler because it was a light, creamy brown colour and looked fairly pale underneath but as I looked at it a bit more closely it suddenly dawned on me that it definitely wasn't a Reed Warbler and was in fact a GRASSHOPPER WARBLER!!!!! I'm not sure I stopped grinning from the moment I realised what it was, until after I had ringed and released it! Before this morning I had never seen a Gropper, having only heard them reeling from deep within a reed bed. This made it even more special to be able to handle one and examine it so closely - especially the awesome undertail coverts!
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| Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia) © Josie Hewitt |
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| Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia) © Josie Hewitt |
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| Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia) © Josie Hewitt |
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| Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia) © Josie Hewitt |
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| Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia) © Josie Hewitt |
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| Grasshopper Warbler (Locustella naevia) © Josie Hewitt |
When the time came to do the next rounds, I was summoned to go first around the rest of the nets: 30, 40, 50, 60, 75 and 80 and hope my good luck continued! We reached net 80 and there were a few birds in the net. We each headed to a bird so we could start extracting them and when I reached the one everyone else had walked past I had to do a double take and check with someone else to make sure I wasn't imagining the identification. I wasn't making it up and it was indeed a CETTI'S WARBLER (!!!), and a previously ringed one too (it had been ringed at one of the group's other sites about two weeks ago)!
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| Cetti's Warbler (Cettia cetti) © Josie Hewitt |
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| Cetti's Warbler (Cettia cetti) © Josie Hewitt |
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| Cetti's Warbler (Cettia cetti) © Josie Hewitt |
The rest of the session was fairly dull in comparison but then again, we were exceptionally lucky early on and I've never had such a session, nor do I expect to have one of such quality any time soon! The fun task of trying to age Garden Warblers kept us suitably occupied for the remainder of the session!
The totals from this morning are as follows (re-traps are in brackets):
Blackbird - 4 (2)
Blackcap - 19 (3)
Blue Tit - 1 (1)
Cetti's Warbler - (1)
Chiffchaff - 5 (2)
Dunnock - 4
Garden Warbler - 22 (3)
Grasshopper Warbler - 1
Great Tit - 1
Lesser Whitethroat - 2
Linnet - 1
Robin - 4 (1)
Sedge Warbler - (2)
Whitethroat - 18 (3)
Willow Warbler - 1
Great pictures of the various birds parts. This little bird almost seem to enjoy publicity!
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