Down on the meadows - at last!

Today we managed a session with 4 nets down at the meadows, staying within the home 1km square. We will move into the next 1km square (north) after we have had a session on the other side of the stream in the orchard and by the ruined mill. As yet, it is too early to catch much since the trees are only just beginning to flush green, the nettles are a mere 8-10cm high and the "policemans helmet" has also just germinated, showing its first pair of leaves.

The 9m net over the stream produced a new, 3CY or older, male Kingfisher at first light.

Full adult male Kingfisher

The 18m net further downstream (but not over water) caught a pair of 2CY birds later, the male of which was first caught last August, but was trapped alongside a different 2CY female just 10 days ago - a bit of a flirt or rejected in favour of another?

Another new 2CY female Kingfisher - note the amount of red on the lower mandible.
Compare the browny-green tinge to the head feathers with the bright blue of a full adult.

It wasn't a day for numbers as the season is only just beginning. One bird that did fall prey to our nets was an male Chiffchaff that had been ringed last July as an adult. It was one of 13 Chiffies that day and was caught 2 hours before the 3JF (juvenile female) that was controlled at Icklesham (E. Sussex) in mid September.

The returning adult male Chiffchaff - with 'pollen horn'

Including a short, unproductive "go" in the garden yesterday, we added the following to the year's total:
Kingfisher 2 (1)
Long-tailed Tit 1 (1)
Chiffchaff (1)
Wren 1 (3)
Dunnock 1 (1)

At the moment, we are catching more Wrens and Long-tailed Tits that we have done for a while now, just as they are getting down to choosing potential nest sites.

One of 3 2CY Wrens caught this week. Note abraded tail and contrasting flight feathers

The only other things of note were 3 Redpoll spp. in the Alders that moved off north and the finding of quite fresh Otter spraint in one of the more secluded net rides.

Supplementary: I went back and took a picture of the Otter poo the following day; it had dried out quite a bit in 24 hours. Here it is.