The calm weather of July gave our team more opportunities to hold ringing sessions this month, with 33 run at 7 sites, including Thornwick roost, CES at Thornwick, South Landing and our usual garden sites. A total of 596 birds were caught with 551 of these newly ringed plus 45 re-traps and 3 pulli.
We ran 2 more CES sessions catching a further 48 new birds and 20 re-traps. The Thornwick roost kept our ringers very busy with a Cetti’s Warbler, Stonechats, Pied Wagtails and Reed Buntings alongside the many hirundines.
Highlights across the headland included:
2 Kittiwakes
1 Herring Gull
126 Swallow
99 Sand Martin
1 Cetti’s Warbler
32 Chiffchaff (new)
11 Sedge Warbler (new)
12 Reed Warbler (new)
4 Stonechat (new)
2 Pied Wagtail
5 Reed Bunting
The Kittiwakes were ringed as part of an ongoing RAS project (Retrapping Adults for Survival), this standardised project is part of a scheme run by the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology). The aim is to catch or re-sight the target species within the project (in this case Kittiwakes) with a defined study area during the breeding season. The project is used to give adult survival rates, telling us if numbers are stable, increasing or declining. RAS projects are usually aimed at birds not well monitored by other current BTO ringing and especially those of conservation concern.
