CES 8

Dawn was breaking as the nets were opened.  

The sun shone over the orchard, making the dew drops caught on the grasses glisten.

Net rounds continued to produce many Bullfinches and pleasingly several Chaffinches, whose numbers have been low recently while they have been nesting.  Wrens also turned up in decent numbers. 

Thank you to the volunteers who prepared the net rides and to the bird ringers who spent over ten hours carrying out CES 8.

Weather was a mixture of warm and cool and the sun spent most of its time behind the clouds so the invertebrates were not very active.  Walking through the Scrapes a movement caught my eye.  It was too fast to be a newt, could it have been a Common Lizard? Returning to where the movement had been a little while later and yes - it was a Common Lizard and this one had a complete tail!  Several that we usually see have regrown tails.  It was a very busy day with 205 birds processed.  In the last hour when getting ready to close down we were presented with a box of young House Martins by a member of the public.  Their nest had collapsed and they were homeless.  More on this tomorrow when we see if they survive the night!