With a cold front passing through at dawn (plus a piddling drop of rain), many redwings were forced to land. They have been coming from the east, having first travelled across the North Sea from Scandinavia. There are lots of Hawthorn bushes at Priory and the birds were very noticeable up until about 2 pm.
I had to make a visit to the feeders to fill them and it was only then that I realised that I had misjudged the ringing opportunity today. The moderate wind was tempered slightly by the bushes in the 'rough', enough to make ringing possible. So home I went, found my long-johns, made a flask and some sandwiches and went back and set up a couple of nets.
I did manage to catch two Redwing but the big deal was the ten new Goldfinches that I trapped.
Might give it a try in the semi-darkness tomorrow morning - if I set the alarm. Not too hopeful that I'll catch more than a couple of Redwing, the main target, though.
There was a record count of some 38,000 Redwings passing over the Pinnacle, Sandy, today. Most of the birds were moving NW, suggesting that they made landfall along the Suffolk/Essex coast after crossing the North Sea.
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