Swinging right, here's the 'orchard' on the other side of the stream.
Another 60 foot goes in front of these apple trees when I work the other side of the stream.
Day 1 was cloudy with patches of light drizzle that were not really a nuisance. As the day before had been getting worse all day, it was no surprise that there was a dearth of warblers on the move now. After all, the rain only stopped just before dawn. It was very noticeable that there was little birdsong until 3 hours after sunrise. Even the Rooks and Jackdaws were slow off the mark this morning. The one bright spot was the 50 or so Swallows that kept coming over. At one point they were joined by some Chaffinch and Greenfinch in persueing, first, a female and, then, a male Sparrowhawk in the opposite direction. Chiffs dominated once again.
Saturday am: 7 (+5 r/t)
Blue Tit 1
Great Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit (1)
Chiffchaff 5 (3)
Blackcap 1; sub-adult female
Sunday was another Chiff day! I put Net 1 up, more in hope than judgement. Net 3, the Whitethroat net, disappointed yet again. At least, yesterday, a Blackbird deigned to attack it at high speed but failed to drop its arrestor hook. The new net was nearly as bad but produced a lovely, fresh-plumaged, juvenile Dunnock in the bottom shelf.
Post-Juvenile Dunnock
All of the other action, prior to 9am, took place in Net 2, the most reliable net of all. If there are birds about, and on the move, this is the one that seems to attract them; and it's only a 40'! The young Blackbirds are, by and large, steadily progressing with their moult into some semblance of adulthood.
Juvenile, male Blackbird undergoing PJ moult
The wind started to get up, so I called it another day over. However, as I went to take down Net 1, it un-blotted its copy-book and delivered five new birds "just like that". (I watched them all go in as I drove up to the field gate). Didn't manage a second Blackcap (there was one 'ticking' nearby), but caught a smashing young Whitethroat; my favourite!
Juvenile Whitethroat at the end of its PJ moult
Sunday am: 19 (all new)
Blue Tit 1; first year
Chiffchaff 11; juvs, 3 of which were growing new tail feathers & 1 ad fem. in full moult
Blackcap 1; sub-adult male
Whitethroat 1 (pic above)
Blackbird 1 (pic above)
Song Thrush 1; moulting juv.
Robin 1; ad male ending moult
Dunnock 2; juvs
Warbler totals - 2011 summer only;
Chiffchaff 93
Blackcap 69
W/throat 20
Willow W. 8
Les. W/throat 2
Sedge W. 1
Reed W. 1
Next weekend, it's off back to Beds. and Bucks. It had better be worth the 50 quid [GBP] or so in petrol. I'm taking my new 2-piece poles with me for a full field trial!
Good number of Chiffs and Blacas E. How things are so different not that far away - yet to reach double figures for both but we do have 112 Whitethroat.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised, Phil, that there aren't more Whitethroats around here; perhaps there is more 'closed canopy' than open scrub in this small valley.
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