25 June 2013

Dismal CES season at Gunwalloe

Having completed Visit 6 on our CES at Gunwalloe this morning (in perfect conditions), the total of just nine birds was incredibly low, as we'd expect 30+ birds by now.

Looking out over the 'dry' ride at Gunwalloe - not so dry though,
still being thigh-deep in mud in places!

So with such a low total hot on the heels of the 13 birds caught on Visit 5, I thought I'd compare the ctch totals for the first half this year to those in 2012.


2012 2013
Adult Reed Warbler 45 37
Juvenile Reed Warbler 4 1
Sedge Warbler 19 5
Blue Tit 15 1
Cetti's Warbler 3 0
Total all species, all ages 95 53

I was surprised to see so many Reed Warblers in the total, but the lack of species variety is rather worrying! We normally catch good numbers of Blue Tits, Reed Buntings and Chiffchaff but these have all been notable by their absence this summer. Hopefully this is just the effects of a late season, so we'll have to see if it picks up in the last six visits.

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