Personel; Marianne, Antoine, Carlos, Teresa, Daniel, Helena, Susan. Guest: Arne
Weather; Mostly sunny, slightly windy
Projects; Great Reed Warbler; Ringing; Marsh Harrier Nests; Farmland Surveys
The day started with the ringing team visiting Banvallen for the standardised ringing session. What started as a quiet morning soon got busy with a total of 101 birds being processed:
Redwing (1), Pied Flycatcher (1), Common Whitethroat (2), Reed Bunting (2), Marsh tit (3), Reed Warbler (3), Robin (3), Great Tit (5), Thrush Nightingale (7), Sedge Warbler (9), Blackcap (11), Willow Warbler (12), Garden Warbler (13), and Blue Tit (33!).
This was the busiest day so far for Carlos, but we had lots of fun, especially with all the baby Blue Tits! We also did some PR when we were joined by a couple of keen birders at 7am – they spent some time watching our ringing progress and asked questions about the birds and our work. For almost the whole time we were ringing, there was a Snipe flying around over our heads – they have a very distinctive call and flight pattern, which Antoine tried to capture on camera.
Marianne observed the Ortolan pair at Sörösbatten as part of the Farmland Survey. They are still feeding the chicks but are being very discreet due to a high number of predators in the area. The Skylark nest in the conventional crops has been lost to predation, so over the next few days the team will be trying to locate another.
The Great Reed Warbler team have had a good day, ringing a nest of chicks and catching the male to fit a logger at Kallvikem. They also checked the nests at Segersjö, which are all present and correct. Also at this site, the male beaver was seen sitting on top of his lodge, giving Teresa and Arne some great views.
With the Marsh Harrier breeding season drawing to a close, today the team visited the reedbed to make a last attempt at a nest which had some older chicks in. Helena expertly guided Daniel and Susan to the nest, which had the two fledged chicks in the vicinity. They were quickly caught and ringed, then released back onto the nest.
This afternoon, Carlos and Antoine returned to Banvallen to finish preparing net rides for the standardised ringing. They finished one new ride and have prepared an area for the last one required for the full set (hopefully it will be done tomorrow).
So, a busy day was had by all...bedtime now for another busy day tomorrow!
SLJ