20th May 2015
Staff: DWE, JMY, MBL, TMJ, EKP
Weather: Sunny, but quite cold.
Projects: Great Reed Warbler, Ortolan bunting, skylark.
MBL & TMJ were out again early looking for Great Reed Warblers, and later DWE returned with MBL to Fågelsjön to see if they could catch and ring a male which had been heard singing . They managed to locate the bird but were not able to capture it.
EKP & JMY had a successful day with the Ortolans, hearing a male singing heartily in the sunshine at Lindåsabacken. They also had good views of the female, feeding on rocks very close by. A morning search of the surrounding area at Restamossen proved fruitless for Ortolans, but an evening walk along with DWE to Torsholmen was a great success. We had started to think the male here had just vanished, during the bad weather the last few days. This evening it was singing away and DWE got close enough to read colour rings. Between the three of us there we could also hear 3 other Ortolans singing from surrounding copses, one of these probably near Ängfallet. Now we are hoping to see more females arriving and for evidence of nesting to begin.
EKP & JMY also spent the afternoon setting out 3 more skylark plots in the spring-planted corn field near Öby Kulle, in preparation for surveying on Friday.
JMY