Marsh Tit plus

Ringing in Norfolk this last weekend was brief, owing to the heavy rain and blustery winds. It still resulted in 43 birds but just 18 were new birds. The junior 'pecker had a mix of moulted and un-moulted feathers, including un-moulted P9 & P10 as can be seen in the photograph.

Result for the session was - Gt. Spot Woodpecker 1 (a young female), Wren 1, Marsh Tit 1, Coal Tit 4 + 7 retraps, Blue Tit 2 + 14 r/t, Gt. Tit 5 + 3 r/t, Chaffinch 3 + 1 r/t and Greenfinch 1.

The re-trap adult male Chaffinch had lost its left leg completely since ringing on 25th August 2008 as a 6M (hatched 2006 or earlier).

This was the 9th new Marsh Tit of the year. I like their Hitler moustache! I have caught 21 of these since coming here and 13 have been re-captured. The interval between re-trapping varies from just 5 days to 500 days. The average is 16 weeks 3 days but the median is less at 11 weeks 1 day. The large majority of birds ringed have been 'birds of the year'.

As well as the Woodpeckers putting in an appearance at the feeders, the Long-tailed Tits were back, albeit just two. The feeders have been very busy for most of the day in the strong winds, just as if we were having a January cold spell.