Windy weekend

Went up to Norfolk on 11th, arriving early enough to erect the nets (2) in daylight, in time for an early start on Saturday morning.
As it happens, the Saturday was the only day when the wind was light enough (and not coming from the north, which then blows onto our corner/side of the wood) to ring safely.

All in all, I managed to catch 38 birds up 'til lunch-time. Out of that number 27 were new birds. A flock of 16 Long-tailed tits 'shot' down the side of the wood (over our ditch) but only one found its way into the net (which runs parallel to the eastern boundary, between the fence and the Cherry tree that is festooned with various feeders).
The main feature of the catch was the number of Chaffinches (below) - 10 in all, everyone fresh to the site, everyone a juvenile in P-J moult and fifty-fifty, male & female.

The rest of the catch (retraps in brackets) comprised of :
Gt. Spotted Woodpecker 1 [I forgot to 'snap' this moulting juvenile], Dunnock 1 (1), Robin 1 (1), Long-tailed Tit 1, Marsh Tit (1) - below, Coal Tit 1 (2), Blue Tit 6 (6), Great Tit 4, Green finch 2.

The next two days were very windy, with it gusting up to 40 mph. Very few birds entered the garden at all, probably less than a dozen per day. The ground is also very dry as we haven't had any appreciable rain for a fortnight and precious little for three weeks before that.

The boundary ditch (90 ft long) was dry, so it proved appropriate to get in there and cut the vegetation back. Just happened to have my long-bladed hedge-cutters with me. This has now exposed the ditch bottom and provides fresh foraging for the resident Robins and Blackbirds.

More tits at last

Having felt a little better yesterday, I went down to the park with my nets. I set up as usual plus one in front of the single feeder. It was only to be a 'middle of the day' trip, from about 10 until 2-ish.

The net runs from the pole (centre) to the right (behind the Elder bush)

Anyway, it seems some of the local tits have found it already (2 days) but it's probably just as well, because all of them were not as fat as the ones at Jenny's garden, where there are feeders 365. Hopefully they will put on the extra 1-2 grams in the coming month and do some catching up.

The park holds a large number of breeding pairs of both Blue and Great. In winter (between the full moult and the pre-breeding moult) many of them skip the area and move into the local gardens where people put out food for the birds. I have even had them in my garden, which is about 3 km as the crow flies.

 A well grown but young Hedgehog 07-09-09

Also had a fairly rare sighting of a Hedgehog, even though we know that they live permanently in the park.

Easterly winds, our first of the autumn, are promised for the rest of the week and all next week, so I shall be out hoping for that "eastern vagrant" to fall into one of my nets. Perhaps another 'new for county' record?

Underwing under net

For a week or so, I have been finding lines of moth eggs cemented to patches of the garden net, which is up permanently, but furled most of the time.

So one night, about 11 o'clock, I went out with a bright torch and caught one in the act. A quick capture, indoors to look it up, easy-peasy, Large Yellow Underwing. In the morning, I took this photograph.


Other feats of endurance, especially as I've had a severe cold (man-flu) all week, were to put up the new peanut feeder and cut away the nettles and other nasty things growing where 10 months ago there was bare ground (we'd cut the trees/bushes down). Look how they've grown; the Elders are well over 2 metres.

Bank Hol Mon

A decent drive over to New Buckenham (between Attleborough & Diss) for the annual street fair to raise money for the village hall. Jenny used to be a trustee, etc.

Town Hall & Jen's old house/cottage

We were introduced to the new owner of Jen's old house. He turned out to be the publican of "The Grapes" in Old Buckenham. He told us that 'next door' was up for sale at £165K.

Looking towards the "King's Head"

The "King's Head" weren't doing lunch today, so we had to go to "The George", which has a limited menu. Today we had scampi and chips, just that (and a pils or two). As you can see, the streets in the middle of the village are closed and a one-way system operates around the outer streets. Great when someone (like us or a villager) decides to go the opposite way along these narrow and , at weekends, congested streets (congested with residents cars, that is, due to lack of car parking space).

Bouncy castle, Punch & Judy, 'guess the mileage' of a 1938 Triumph saloon, 'highest score' (6 dice) and many more. Don't know who the one with her hand on her hip is - looks a bit sus' to me.


For some it was too much or too hot and so they took shelter under one of the massive trees that are on the green. Me? I had an ice-cream for a quid and good it was, too.


More stalls - and looking at the back of Jen's house. The NB Silver Band played all afternoon under the Town Hall. Upstairs, they store all these wonderful village fair games - like 'smack the rat' (lots of sizes and goes for 50 pee, but no-one has ever managed to hit one!) , safety darts, roll a coin, win a doll, you name it, they've got it here. Nearly new (clothes), bric-a-brac, s/h books, 'burgers, cream teas - plenty to spend your money on - and nothing over £1, mostly much less!

Weekend's ringing

Bank Holiday weekend! Pointless heading to or from the coast during the rush. Either of two choices - go across the traffic or STAY IN.

Decided to drive up on Sat pm, arrive about 3, put up nets and wait. Do the same on Sunday morning (watch the nets, that is) before having to go to the nursing home and watch the judo, dog show, etc. Then, take down nets, as we were going out on Monday [next blog]

Birds caught and ringed (already ringed in brackets): Dunnock 1 (1), Blackbird 2, Marsh Tit 2 (1), Coal Tit 6 (4), Blue Tit 6 (4), Great Tit 13 (7), Chaffinch 5, Greenfinch 2, Goldfinch 2.


The Goldfinches were the first for a while, and, looking at the photo, you can see the gap in the primaries where the bird (she) is moulting. There are at least 5 Marsh Tits (4 youngsters) knocking around. The Blackies were newly fledged, too.