Reedbed bonanza

Tuesday morning, Colin, Derek and I set four nets in the scrub beside Kessingland sewage works along with the usual reed bed 60' and a net in a new ride between some sallow and the reed bed. This ride has not been used since I have been attending Colin's sessions at the sewage works and it was festooned with an array of tall foxgloves making it one of the most floristically attractive net rides that I have worked with.

Colin in his beautiful net ride

Shortly after setting the net birds started arriving and were hitting the net around us as we extracted. Whilst most birds caught were 'acro' warblers a few other species were trapped; one Reed Warbler was originally ringed at the site as an adult in 2008 which was nice to see.

Reed Warbler

As in the previous few sessions at Kessingland the scrub continues to produce recently fledged juveniles and it was pleasing to see the first young Chiffchaff of the year along with another juvenile Blackcap and more 3J Whitethroats.

 juv. Blackcap (3J)                   juv. Chiffchaff (3J)

The morning was brought to an exciting close when Colin and I decided to put our nest finding skills to the test and attempt to locate a Reed Warbler's nest. After donning out wellingtons and grabbing a cane each, we gingerly pushed our way around the edge of the reeds until Colin announced that he had found one. Upon inspection it was evident that the chicks were of a ringable age so I ended the day by with ringing my first brood of Reed Warbler pulli - thanks Colin!

Reed Warbler nest