25th and 26th June 2010 - Reedbed and Another Rescue

Today I visited the Swallow nests again and chanced upon a Pied Wagtail nest with five young and although there were no Swallow nests ready a further nest with five eggs was found in a grand chicken shed and some noise from an unused stable produced an adult female that seemed to have got trapped (below). Thank goodness I check everyone each time I visit, but still unsure how or why she got in there!
Yesterday, 25th, was a solo session in the reedbed at Warnham LNR produced 62 birds with 48 new. Highlights of the new birds were a Jay, a juvenile Garden Warbler, an adult and five juvenile Blackcap, a juvenile Treecreeper and a juvenile and adult Reed Warbler. The adult Reed Warbler was interesting in that it displayed no breeding signs, but wasn't a failed breeder as there was no sign of any moult either. But, it did have a certain amount of fat, so must be assumed that it is a late arriving migrant that has just arrived! Another interesting catch was a juvenile Great Tit which had the dark parts of the bill replaced with a pink colouration, although the yellow fringe was still evident (below). It would be interesting to see how this bird fares in years to come!
Retraps were fairly few for here, but the highlights were two new Reed Warblers for the year, ringed in August 2009 and August 2008, and a moulting adult female Willow Warbler with a brood patch which was ringed as a juvenile in July 2009. This Willow Warbler is very interesting as it is the first retrap of this species for the Horsham sites and could be one half of a second breeding pair on the reserve and could also be a bird born on or new the reserve last year...!

Birds ringed: (retraps in brackets)
Swallow - 1 + 4 nestlings
Blackbird - 1 + 5 nestlings
Reed Warbler - 2 (6)
Blackcap - 6 (1)
Blue Tit - 16
Great Tit - 9 (5)
Dunnock - 4
Robin - 2 (1)
Garden Warbler - 1
Pied Wagtail - 5 nestlings
Wren - 2
Chiffchaff - 3 (1)
Treecreeper - 1
Jay - 1