High diversity but few acrola

Post date: Sep 12, 2015 12:09:16 AM

It has been a nice week during which I carried out three ringing session with the help of my trainee TVN. The diversity has been very high: on the first session we trapped 48 birds of 22 species, which may be a record (of species in a single session) for the site, even though the total number of birds is rather low, as we only used 2x15m nests, 4 singles and 4 doubles. Unfortunately, only one acrola was caught, but we entertained ourselves with wryneck, whinchat, nightingale, flycatchers etc! There was the expected increase in Cetti's Warbler, who move to the reeds/marsh at this time of the year, as well as of bluethroats.

The totals for all three sessions were the following:

Acrocephalus arundinaceus (1)

ACROLA 1

Acrocephalus schoenobaenus 13 (2, including one with a ring from Belgium)

Acrocephalus scirpaceus 10 (3)

Alcedo atthis 1

Anthus trivialis 10

Cettia cetti 9 (1)

Cisticola juncidis 3

Emberiza schoeniclus 1

Estrilda astrild 1

Euplectes afer 7 (2)

Ficedula hypoleuca 5

Jynx torquilla 1

Locustella luscinioides (4)

Locustella naevia 3

Luscinia megharhynchus 1

Luscinia svecica 6 (1)

Motacilla flava 1

Muscicapa striata 2

Parus caeruleus 5

Parus major 5

Phylloscopus trochilus 9 (1)

Saxicola rubetra 1

Saxicola rubicola 2

Sylvia atricapilla 2

Sylvia borin 1

Sylvia communis 7

Sylvia melanocephala 1

Turdus merula 2

A young Wryneck (Jynx torquilla), with a suspicious look!

The acrola of the week, also a young bird.

There is still plenty of time to catch acrolas, and I'm also planning a session to catch waders and another for Yellow Wagtails and Swallows (as soon as I get rid of my grant applications!).

Till then...

JMN