Marathon?

Today I completed three days of ringing at the main site at the park. This small area of ca. 2 acres/1 h. is a hot-spot for migrant birds as they move SW down "the long hedge" which bisects the park. This hedge used to demarcate the change from arable fields to riverside pasture. The hedge can be seen on the right in the pic in my previous post.

Young male Goldfinch undergoing PJ moult

Day 1 - 18 new birds + 10 retraps; all were juveniles except 3. Nothing exceptional apart from 7 young Goldfinches and a couple of 'oldish' Dunnocks (born 2003 & 2004). The really important thing to occur was at 07:45. Coming out of the low sun was a warbler making this distinctive call; I knew it was a Yellow-browed Warbler, P. inornatus. The previous week, about 40 had been reported arriving in this country from Siberia. It was 12 years ago when I trapped one here, in the same spot that this bird flew over; this time I had not got that particular net up yet as I had intended to leave it until things settled down at the feeding station.

Female Goldcrest

 

Day 2 - 6 new birds + 6 retraps; 4 adults & 8 'birds of the year'. An interesting if very slow day with 3 new Chiffchaffs and 2 Reed Warblers. I also caught the first Goldcrest of the autumn.

Recently fledged female Reed Warbler

At the feeders, I recaught a Great Tit that was hatched in 2005 (and caught it again on Day 3). It's not very often we retrap Treecreepers, but I did so, even if it was only a young one from a month ago.

First year Treecreeper (indistinguishable from an adult?)

Day 3 - 19 new birds + 9 retraps; 7 adults (or 25%, the same as yesterday) with 21 classed as 1CY (first calendar year; we use calendar years in ringing, the same as in horses' ages). Started off with a bang, i.e. 3 Blackcaps. There was a fourth around and two more still late morning but not in a net!. Ther was a two hour lull between 10am and noon, when it all kicked off again; 7 birds in the last hour. One of these was a long-winged tLesser Whitethroat which may have come from somewhere over by the Caspian Sea. The weather patterns produced by the recent high pressure systems have favoured migration from the east. Many of these (young) birds are going in the reverse direction to the one they ought, "tranquillised" by the light and warming winds.

The bee's knees - 1CY Lesser Whitethroat

A761442, a male Blue Tit, was captured early on. This bird had originally been ringed in late June 2002, when it would have been about six weeks old. 7 years & 3 months have elapsed since then, making it the oldest Blue Tit in the group's records by far. (It already held the record last year!)

In all I caught - 1 Wood Pigeon (recently fledged), 3 Dunnocks, 5 Robins, 2 Blackbirds, 1 Song Thrush, 2 Reed Warblers (don't give much for their chances, low weights), 1 Lesser Whitethroat (only one later record, 29th Sept), 5 Blackcaps, 5 Chiffchaffs, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Long-tailed Tit, 10 Blue Tits, 17 Great Tits, 1 Treecreeper, 2 Chaffinches, 9 Goldfinches & 1 Bullfinch. 67 different birds spread over 17 species. Not bad.

Now I'm off to NW Norfolk to ring more birds (in the garden) and to finalise a trainee's application to become a licensed ringer, albeit "under distant supervision" (that means I still carry the can for his actions).