First reebu roost of the autumn

Several years ago we had a very successful autumn and early winter catching reed bunting (aka reebu) at a roost site at Belvide Reservoir.  This year water levels once again allow us access to the reedbed so we'll be ringing every few weeks as long as conditions allow.

The last time we caught at this roost we had several hundred new birds over the course of the season, with an astonishingly low number of retraps, suggesting that the majority of the birds were merely stopping off at Belvide to roost before heading off elsewhere.  So sitting in the hide every evening you could be forgiven in thinking that all the birds dropping in are the same as the week before.  Just another example of how valuable bird ringing is!

The evening ended with 35 reed bunting and 2 starling from a small flock which also roosted in the reedbed.  More to come over the coming weeks, we hope!