9 out of 10

That was what today was, 9 out of 10! A bloody good days ringing, ably assisted by Ed.
54 birds of 15 species in all ... and no retraps. We worked for it mind. Up and away by 04:30, on site 50 miles away by 06:00 and nets up before 07:00. First bird to be extracted was a year tick for me but not for Ed - Gr'opper!

Gr'opper - first bird of the day, whichever way you like.

While we were waiting for things to get going, we looked over the laid hedge and counted the Yellow Wagtails in the horse paddocks. We couldn't see all of the grass (hidden by the hedge further along and the rising ground) but we counted 30 (THIRTY) and suspected there were more. Later on in the morning we recounted and both times saw at least 20. Mega! Haven't seen that many at once inland for many a moon.

An early surprise was a young Goldcrest (well, Ed said it was) and later on Ed got his prize, an unringed Marsh Tit. He's done them before at Jenny's but they were all retraps. Just 1 Willow today and also a lone Blackcap. Then it was my turn. One had been calling in the large Poplars but moved off west, so it was a delighted me when I took a Nuthatch out. I haven't ringed one (but have processed) for well over 15 years, mainly because we are on the edge of the range and generally ringing in the wrong habitat. I just love those undertail coverts!

Nuthatch UTC

We caught just 5 adults all day, if you disregard the Bushtit 'grown ups'. Quite a few, probably the majority, of the juveniles were very young and still undergoing a PJ moult and carrying nil fat. The Blue and Great Tits were more advanced and all were coming to an end - just the heads giving the game away - instantly.

Here it is then, the list:-
Green Woodpecker - seen today [1]
Goldcrest - 1 [1]
Blue Tit - 7 [11]
Great Tit - 3 [8]
Marsh Tit - 1 [3]
Long-tailed Bushtit - 14 [17]
Chiffchaff - 8 [12]
Willow Warbler - 1 [6]
Blackcap - 1 [2]
Garden Warbler - absent today? [1]
Les. Whitethroat - 1 seen today [1]
C.Whitethroat - 2 [4]
Grasshopper Warbler - 1 [1]
Nuthatch - 1 [1]
Wren - 7 [7]
Robin - 2 [2]
Dunnock - 1 [5]
Bullfinch - 4 [7]

Todays 'best buy' - 8 Chiffchaffs

The figures in brackets [90] are the total of our two visits to this new site at the headwaters of the River Ray. The nets have been in different locations so far; we are still "exploring".

Home at 16:30 - after chatting to the site manager and the county Biodiversity Officer responsible for the R.Ray catchment enhancements. A 12 hour day. And worth it.

PS. If Ed's got some better pics, I'll post them later.