Good week for the Spanish (or Basque)

Heysham Obs
Middleton IE CES & additional nets
Quite a good number of birds on the move this morning and the catch thankfully retrieved the situation with the foreign-ringed Reed Warbler which escaped as I was fiddling about with new reading glasses on the last visit.  This was the second consecutive ringing effort involving a Spanish-ringed bird, with the nesting female Sand Martin bearing a Madrid ring being retrapped at Crossdale, upper Hindburn on Saturday evening

The Reed Warbler was a breeding female (with a significant stage 3 brood patch) and the ring was from the San Sebastian Ringing Scheme (ESA), S.C. Aranzadi, Alto de Zorroaga 11, E-20014 Donostia-San Sebastian Basque Country.  About 100 birds were caught in total and these included 6 each of Grasshopper Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat and  two young Great Tits from the Heysham Nature reserve (2010) nestbox scheme.  11 unringed & two previously ringed Willow Warbler was a good  total for this site.  The most significant thing, however, was negative.  NO Reed Bunting, despite a large breeding population and two singing males within earshot this morning.  There must have been a complete first brood failure as a catch of this size at this site should have included 10-15 Reed Bunting.  Other sightings:

Kingfisher - one around (first of the autumn)
Swift - c30 south
Reed Warbler - probably four breeding pairs this year
Grasshopper Warbler -  two singing males still and an unringed adult female trapped in the central marsh along with two ringed adults and three juveniles in the western marsh

Insects
Male Black-tailed Skimmer in a mist net in Middleton IE central marsh!
Straw Underwing new for the year in the moth trap with the second Dingy Footman of the year