Juvenile Greenfinch before it starts the PJ moult.No, it's not a Yellowhammer! Doh!
This time, it was a mere 38 new birds plus 19 birds, all from last time, the first session of the autumn (or post fledging/breeding). Blackbirds remained steady at 2(1), though, and I recaught 3 of the 4 Marsh Tits. The young Dunnocks (2) have started to make an appearance at long last.
Coal Tit 8(4) versus 11(2) last time would suggest a population of some 3 dozen - but I caught something like 160+ individuals in the previous 12 months (and just under 100 the 12 months before that).
Blue Tits were way down from 33(8) to 8(4), but it's still nice to know that there are new birds out there every time. From August to July each year, I reckon to catch about 200 birds in this particular garden. Ours lies on the western side of the wood and bods from NOA (Jed Andrews & Co.) set a net at Fred Cooke's place which lies on the NE corner, about 3/4 mile away. Needless to say, we end up catching each others - but not as many as you would think.
The "surprise" (if you can call it that) was the decent numbers of new Great Tits at 14(7), suggesting a local population of, perhaps, 150. Last year (prev.12 months) I caught 120 individuals, so it looks like I'm missing some or they had a darned good breeding season!
The last species on the list is Greenfinch; a couple of Juvs (see photo) and a couple of 'dads', "with no passes".
This weekend, the butties were few in number, mainly Large & Small Whites and 2 Gatekeepers. Last time there was a profusion feeding on and around the Buddliea & Hydrangeas - the 2 Whites (17), Brimstone, Peacock (11+), Red Admiral (3), Painted Lady (4+), Small Tortoiseshell, Comma (2), Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Holly Blue & Gatekeeper (2).
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