As we rapidly approach October our premier reed bed site suddenly feels very quiet, just as our coastal migrant site starts to liven up. With that, our period of more intensive ringing at Cantley reed bed is over for another year. It’s been an interesting season, but a small team of us managed 12 sessions between July and September getting a flavour of the amazing passage of Acrocephalus warblers that pass through the site on their way to Africa, mostly for the first time (~96% of Acros ringed were first-year birds).
High water levels and plenty of sunshine produced a very good reed growth year and probably helped bump bird numbers up where the high water levels provide extra predator protection. That being said, Swallow roost numbers were down partially as a result of up to 6 Hobbies present in the area which moved the Swallows to alternative roost sites later in the season.
In total 1,402 birds were processed, of which 1,349 were new and 3 were controls. Acros made up 766 (57%) of the new birds, a total we were very pleased with and with 328 ringed it was a very good year for Sedge Warblers for the site. Bearded Tits and Cetti’s Warblers also seemed to have a good breeding season, and are always a pleasure to share the reed bed with.
Species totals 2020:
| Species | New | Retraps | Unique inds. | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reed Warbler | 438 | 19 | 440 | 457 |
| Swallow | 407 | 3 | 409 | 410 |
| Sedge Warbler | 328 | 15 | 329 | 343 |
| Bearded Tit | 48 | 13 | 52 | 61 |
| Reed Bunting | 53 | 1 | 54 | 54 |
| Blue Tit | 18 | 1 | 18 | 19 |
| Cetti's Warbler | 15 | 0 | 15 | 15 |
| Sand Martin | 14 | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Wren | 8 | 1 | 8 | 9 |
| Yellow Wagtail | 6 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Chiffchaff | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Starling | 4 | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Linnet | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Garden Warbler | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Great Tit | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Kingfisher | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Whinchat | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Whitethroat | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total: | 1349 | 53 | 1359 | 1402 |
