"Last tra-ain to San Fernando ..."

My last chance to ring in North Wootton (Nfk) came and went all too soon.
After my 'dawn chorus' walk at Priory (Beds), I readied myself and the car for my mission.

It was almost lunch-time Sunday before I arrived, unloaded and got the nets out and put them up. Not a bad little afternoon session with 13 birds, of which a mere 6 were new. Chaffinch was to dominate the weekend with 4 males and 2 females.

The biggest male Chaffinch of the weekend [wl 91, wt 22.1]

As I was about to sit down for lunch, a raucous din drew my attention to something struggling in the net close to the pole. Knowing what "disasters" can happen when this occurs, I shot out and took the following quick pic before I un-picked this 2CY female with a stonking B3 brood patch [i.e.fully engorged].

 Female Great Spot. in its first breeding season calling out to be ringed!

By the end of the day, I was half-way through the week-end's total of 27 birds. Next day, I had to get my car in for its MOT test (that ran out on Saturday) at Gayton, about 10 miles distant. Jen ferried me there so I was able to capture a few more birds in the morning only. After lunch, I had to get into Kings Lynn and pick up and pay for the service and MOT. They still do things the old-fashioned way - that means real service and no bright lights to dazzle the customers!

Allen's Garage, Lynn Road, Gayton.

The day saw me ring my first 3J of the year, a sweet Robin, destined to become a female going by its wing length.

On some younger birds, the bastard wing (alula) has become quite noticeable due to bleaching. Here is a 2CY female Blue Tit from Monday's catch.

Faded alula on a 2nd year, female Blue Tit. (May 2010)

Tuesday morning was to be my very last session here. Although I lay abed 'til 7am (that's 2 hours after sun up), it turned out to be a bit of a farewell fanfare. Nine birds of just five species. Grist to the mill turned up as 3 new Dunnocks, an English ringer's bread and butter, and 2 retrap Blue Tits from last August. But, over breakfast, I saw a Jay through the conservatory window. A developing brood patch maybe, reasonable cloaca, 176 wing, 164 weight and 12 bars on the outermost gc and a broad tail pointed towards a 6 (hatched 2 years or more ago) and a possible male at that.

Early morning Jay. Note the dressing gown!

About two hours later in the morning, low and behold, another Jay! This one was definitely a 6M - everything was that bit bigger than the earlier bird. The little finger on my left hand, which is awaiting surgery, sustained a further injury and more pain as I thrust my hand out to hold the bird while I went under the net.

Late morning 6M Jay. Note the BTO sweater cuff by now!

Proper photo (none of these are cropped or touched up; it's beyond my comprehension!)

I finished on the only Coal Tit of the wekend, somewhat surprising, as they have been the real ' bread and butter' job for me round here these last four and a half years.

My efforts resulted in 27 birds, 15 new (12 retraps):
Gt Spot 1
Jay 2
Blue Tit (6)
Gt. Tit (2)
Coal Tit 1
Black bird 1 (1)
Robin 1
Dunnock 2 (2)
Chaffinch 5 (1)
Greenfinch 2

2CY male Greenfinch that has been on the last of the rose-hips

"If you miss . this one . there'll never be another one ... biddy-biddy-bum-bum ..."

Penultimate visit

This was to be the only April visit to NW Norfolk. The reason - Jen has sold out to her brother and is moving to Bedford ... temporarily. I have an appointment with our Priory CES site next weekend and the weekend after I shall be packing for our caravan holiday in Dorset (where we will be house hunting) and Cornwall, where we will get pissed in Padstow at the May Day celebrations. It now looks like we will be met there by one of Jen's neices, Hannah, and her partner, 'Ginge' (Ian).

Rear view. The net runs in front of the RH shrubs to the pole

Getting the net up after lunch on the Saturday, it didn't yield many birds before dusk; just 4, with nothing between half two and five o'clock. Up early on Sunday morning to open the net proved a deliberate act of masochism again, with 3 birds by breakfast time, 2 more just before lunch, and then 3 more as it was getting dark. Bank holiday Monday and I followed the same routine, but did close for a couple of hours mid-afternoon when we walked to "Onion Corner", once on the main road to Hunstanton but now by-passed by the 'Queen Elizabeth Way'. Then nothing.

This is how it panned out.
Saturday pm - 1 Greti, 2 Chaff & 1 Blabi.

 A neat 5M Chaffinch with a wing of 86.5


Sunday am - 2 Bluti, 1 Blabi, 1 Robin & 1 Grefi.

A 6m Greenfinch with a low weight of 24.4 - hence the fluffed up appearance

Sunday pm - 1 Dunno, 1 Robin & 1 Bluti.
Monday am - 1 Goldc, 4 Grefi, 1 Coati & 1 Chiff.

A surprise 6F Goldcrest. 'Hubby' was nearby

So that was that. Chiffchaff 1, Goldcrest 1, Blue Tit 2 (1), Great Tit 1, Coal Tit 1,

The sole Coal Tit, unringed, aged 5, 4 ogc's.
The rest have deserted the feeders for now. 

Blackbird 2, Robin 1 (1), Dunnock 1, Chaffinch 1 (1) & Greenfinch 5.

Another garden rarity - 4M Chiffchaff with a wing of 64

19 birds in all with just the three retraps. It'll have to do.

Cakes & ale rejected

A mid-week trip to Norfolk, principally for the Norfolk Ringers annual meet. A good night was had by all, thanks to Allan, the county ringing co-ordinator.

But, as always, a session in the garden is what really stirs the brain into action - especially at 06:30 on a frosty (-4C) morning. Now that the sun is climbing in the sky, I only get about 4 hours before the nets are 100% visible to all and sundry. Nonetheless, 40 birds of just 7 species was good enough. It would have been better if the Siskins had returned from their winter haunts, possibly as far away as Catalonia (thank you, Jeff K) - Barcelona, Spain for the uninitiated.

Robin 2 (1)
Blackbird 8 (2)
Coal Tit (2)
Blue Tit 1 (8)
Great Tit 4 (4)
Greenfinch 6
Chaffinch 4


First up was this large (wing 139) male 'Blackie' with a crossed bill; as a >/=3CY it must be managing OK. It was not as heavy, at 115g, as some which I caught later that reached 132g with a good fat load (scored 3).

At the same time I had this female, a normal 'English wing' sized bird. However the 4 old greater coverts show up much better in the photo' below than in the hand. Many 'continental sized' birds habitually have these deceptively coloured covert feathers. This female had a lovely mottled breast - which took my fancy.

aaaaa

Jen had mentioned that her Garlic shoots had disappeared. Her thoughts were that a mouse or similar had had them because the mesh cage over the plot stopped any birds getting to them. Lo and behold, what should appear on the feeder hanging under the climbing rose but "Mr. Country Mouse"

I was able to get fairly close and eventually 'it' stopped hiding round the other side of the peanuts. Finally, a couple of Coal Tits frightened it back to its underground home below the patio.

Snow joke

Today it snowed in NW Norfolk, quite heavily at times, that wet stuff. Ringing discontinued for obvious reasons.

Yesterday, Sunday, was overcast with the wind in the north-east, i.e. coming through the wood, which, in turn, protects the garden. As usual, a net up by the weeping cherry, the tree from which most of the feeders hang. It was a reasonable mornings catch of 37 birds, 20 of them new.




The real point of the day was catching Blackbirds. There were 8 in all, 2x 5F, 2x 5M, 2x 6F & 2x 6M. Each category had a 'normal' wing and a 'longer' wing, but no 'super length' continental-types. The weights had dropped down to 105-110g except for two birds caught just after 9 o'clock which were a 5M at 120g and a 6F at 131g. [5 = last year's, 6 = 2 years or older]




Over the morning, I caught 5 Lottis. The first was a pair just after 10:30, heading for the peanuts, the female being unringed. Two more were recaptured shortly after but another unringed one, a possible 5M, visited the fat balls
shortly before lunch.




Only 4 Coal Tits were caught, 3 of them already with BTO passports. Coal Tit activity has reduced over the two weeks since I last visited and there was no sign of the three or four old birds that are regularly caught (= net happy). Surprisingly, I am still catching new Blue Tits; today it was 5 out of 13 that needed brand new bracelets.

Great Tits were also in short supply - just 1 new and 3 recaptures. Chaffinches obliged with three more of their number insisting on being 'registered' before they flew off to pastures new.

The real tragedy was today's weather turned for the worse - and that prevented me from catching any of the army of birds that visited the garden. I saw at least 7 unringed Blackbirds and 6 unringed Chaffinches coming and going to bread.There were Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits and Marsh Tits zipping back and forth to the sunflower hearts like there was no tomorrow. A couple of strangers in the form of Greenfinchs hogged one feeder. It's amazing to think that the birds knew that cold nights were coming and that they must put on an extra 10% of body weight now if they were to get round to next weekend.

Which is more than we can hope for Jenny's poor old mum in the QE2 hospital. She will be 95 next Monday - if the "Liverpool care pathway" allows. A testing time.

Belgian 'taiga'

At last. The ringing details for BLB.9200638 have come through. This adult female Brambling was caught in the North Wootton garden on the last day of February last year, 2009.

It was originally ringed as a 2CY female on the 8th March 2006, in a western suburb of Bruges, which was presumably either somewhere within its then wintering area or during its return migration "north" away from its winter quarters.

The species is known to spend subsequent winters in different areas of Europe but many birds traditionally spend the time in a select few Beech forest sites in southern Germany, Switzerland and Austria. When heavy snowfall occurs, they move on to snow-free areas. In some years, birds reach Italy and the former Jugoslavia. They arrive back on the breeding grounds in northern Scandinavia in the last third of May; taiga country!

Distance: 258 km NW.    Duration: 2 years 357 days.

NW Norfolk

Jen's mum was taken unconscious to the QE2 last Saturday, the 25th. In three weeks time she will be 95 and has spent the last five years in a nursing home, following a severe stroke. Naturally, after Jen rang me, I packed a bag and left for King's Lynn to give her a little bit of support. The prognosis does not look good for her mum.

As well as just being there, I obviously did not want to.be under her feet, so it was another opportunity to catch a few more birds. It turned out to be a steady day, but, alas, no Siskins, Bramblings or Greenfinches yet. Three more new Blackbirds were some compensation. They were all 2CY males, two I suspect were 'foreigners' and a UK bird with 4 ogc; all were carrying good amounts of fat.

Dunnock 1
Blackbird 3
Blue Tit 3 (11)
Gt. Tit 2 (2)
Coal Tit 3 (3)
Chaffinch 2

Best ages were two Coal Tits ringed as young birds in June 2007 and the following October, both fairly faithful attendees at the feeders.

False dawn

I did think my cold was on the wain; it was. However, it was replaced (as is often the case during late winter) with acute sinusitis. That put paid to very much everything, going to town, visiting, long walks in the snow, etc.

By the 16th, I had manged to drive to Lynn. The disturbed sleep continued. The thaw generated by the rain continued. On the Saturday, the light but persistent rain softened the soil and grass sufficiently for J's garden to become a haven for feeding birds. It was almost non-stop toing and froing from the woodland edge to the feeders or beneath the feeders. As I sat there sipping hot drinks, I counted 7 unringed Blackbirds popping in and out of the shrubs.


Blackbird takes it supplements!

The rain eased as dusk approached, so I erected a net and set it lower than usual, ready for the morning. At 8am, the first Blackbird; adult 6 male, 137 wing, 111.5 grams. That's what I would expect at this time of year, enough weight (fat reserves) to get it through several days of bad weather. Not so heavy as not to be able to get away from a Sparrowhawk.

Half an hour later, number 2, a young female with a wing of 131 weighing in at 113g. Another wait, then a young male, wing length 139 and weighing a little more at 116.5g. Then another, making four of the seven. This was a male with a wing of 133 and maybe of more 'local' origins; it was a tough one to call but I decided on 6M after much study, based on the shape of the outer tail feathers. (It looked as though it had not done a 100% PB moult, maybe just a late 95% one; remember Sept/Oct were very dry).


2CY female Blackbird - "continental type"

There after, I caught more usual fare. One new and one retrap of each of the Great, Blue and Coal Tits. The number of birds in and around the garden this morning was much, much lower than yesterday. Then at midday, I caught two more of these unringed Blackbirds. Both were young birds; the female measured 133 and weighed 114.5g but the male, with 5 ogc and a wing of 135, weighed an enormous (for here) 136.5g. It was carrying so much fat, it even showed as a bare (brood) patch without much 'wind assistance' from me.

 The 'big' 2CY male "continental" Blackbird


Finally, it was another Coal Tit, a new 6F, and a retrap 6M Blue Tit. Fourteen birds in five hours meant that I had kept warm most of the time and shifted some of that nasty, sluggish infection. I was really pleased with catching 6 of 'the magnificent 7'. I do like thrushes!


Typical tail feather shapes of a 1st winter Blackbird in Norfolk;
resident, inland UK birds of the same age often have narrower feathers than this.

Christmas cheer

View west, Sunday 27 Dec. Rain on Ice on compacted Snow.

Spent the holiday in Snowy Norfolk - and all of that was at J's house (apart from Christmas day dinner with "the mother" in the care home). Managed a little ringing on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day but it was more of the same; 40 birds, 21 of which were recaptures of ringed birds. However, I was able to get a better handle on the potential numbers of birds coming to the feeders.

Here are this weekend's figures, followed by this sessions retraps (in brackets), then by the December total (=2 visits), retraps this month from last, and Novembers totals. Any retraps during the same month have been removed.
Dunnock    0, 1, 0, 1
Robin    1, (2), 3, 0, 0
L-t Tit    1, (2), 12, 1, 7
Marsh Tit    0, 3, 1, 2
Coal Tit    3, (5), 38, 8, 24
Blue Tit    10, (11), 37, 4, 52
Gt. Tit    3, (1), 21, 2, 17
Chaffinch    0, 4, 0, 6
Grenfinch    1, 4, 0, 1

View east, back garden gate leading to Ling Common (a wood)

A recalculation of  the figures confirms "population sizes" of ~100 Coal Tits and ~130 Gt. Tits. However, the latest numbers would suggest there may be ~400 Blue Tits in the area. Long-tailed Tits remain a bit nebulous with a recalc., somewhere in the range 50-75, so I'll stick with ~63.

So far, no Siskins or Brambling on the feeders, although we are starting to get Goldfinch and Pied Wagtail now and again as winter progresses. Normally, we don't see a change until January or even February.

In a Norfolk garden

A round-the-clock session (midday-midday) produced 76 birds. These in turn produced some interesting figures.

Any road, the totals were 21 new birds and 55 re-traps:

Dunnock 1,

Long-tailed Tit 4 (5) - comprising 4 adults and 5 'young',

Marsh Tit 1 (1) - 1 adult & 1CY (1CY with 4ogc nearest in photo),

Coal Tit 6 (23) - 13 adults & 16 '08 juvs, oldest a '3' on 18 Nov '05,

Blue Tit 2 (11) - 3 adults & 10 'juvs', oldest a '6F' on 27 Jan '06,

Gt. Tit 3 (12) - just 2 adults, the rest this year's young,

Chaffinch 2 (2),

Greenfinch 2 (1).

Last month, I managed to catch 113 individuals altogether. Apart from new Gt. Spot., Wren, Dunnock & Blackbird, I caught/re-caught the following from which we can make some deductions.

Long-tailed Tit  7 - don't know which were adults,

Marsh Tit 2 - both this year's young birds,

Coal Tit 14 (10) - 6 adults & 18 1CY class, oldest the same bird as above,

Blue Tit 20 (33) - 15 adults & 38 youngsters, oldest bird a '3' on 2 Oct '05,

Gt. Tit 9 (8) - of which 6 were adult, + 11 "this year's birds",

Chaffinch 4 (2) - 2 adults & 4 youngsters,

Greenfinch 1 - probably means 'winter passage not started here'.

A few bits of jiggery-pokery and 'hey presto' we can reckon on

5-6 family flocks of Long-tails (~63 birds),

~100 Coal Tits present ... and non-stop at the feeders!

~230 Blue Tits roaming the neighbourhood (wood and gardens),

~ 128 Gt. Tits, although at times it seems as if they dominate the feeders,

and a constant stream (trickle) of Chaffinches passing through the garden.

The Greenfinch is one of those 1CY birds that have moulted all its greater coverts and 'half' its alula and replaced primaries 6-7-8. Suspicion is that these are birds from the far continent (Russia?), with a more pointed wing shape as well. [If PP 6-7 only moulted, perhaps from near continent?].

I have ringed 9 juvenile Marsh Tits here this autumn. 6 of these have been caugh/re-caught in post-juvenile plumage and we know from recent results that 3 are still alive. If they are from nearby and from the same pair, then mortality is ~ 67% post fledging, which one would possibly expect. We'll see how we go, as they're regular at the feeders, too, and seem to do well if they get this far in life - at least until the breeding season.

PS. A pair of 'Squizzers' were collecting dead Oak leaves to line their nest in the ivy clad Ash tree that overlooks the garden. Their nest won't be the only thing that's warm!

It's warm for the end of September

Too right - and it's been going on a while now. Home here, we shall be in an 'official drought' situation if there is no measurable rainfall before Saturday morning! This (American) Indian summer has kept the birds away from the feeders for much of the time, thereby stringing out the catching rate. However, we seem to be recording a good proportion of new birds.

Last weekend I took Ed 'soon to become a C ringer' Green to Norfolk for a garden session. He did manage to handle two new species and even got to ring one of them. These were Marsh Tit (r/t) and Coal Tit.

Ed looking pleased with his 'ringing tick' [North Wootton]

Over three sessions (Sat pm, Sun & Mon am) we caught just 30 birds. 11 were retraps and just the one was of significant interest, a Great Tit C595264, originally caught back on 23rd December 2005 as a 4F.

Dunnock 1, Blackbird 1 (1), Marsh Tit (1), Coal Tit 2 (2), Blue Tit 6 (3), Gt. Tit 3 (3) & Chaffinch 6 (1).

On most of the Chaffinches, we noticed a white patch on R4 that we don't get down in Bedfordshire. It was particularly striking on the adult male below.

Adult male Chaffinch retrices [Sept 09]

On the way home over the Fens, we were fortunate to see a wonderful sunset that could have been painted for us by Van Gogh. We should really have stopped and captured it for posterity.

Windy weekend

Went up to Norfolk on 11th, arriving early enough to erect the nets (2) in daylight, in time for an early start on Saturday morning.
As it happens, the Saturday was the only day when the wind was light enough (and not coming from the north, which then blows onto our corner/side of the wood) to ring safely.

All in all, I managed to catch 38 birds up 'til lunch-time. Out of that number 27 were new birds. A flock of 16 Long-tailed tits 'shot' down the side of the wood (over our ditch) but only one found its way into the net (which runs parallel to the eastern boundary, between the fence and the Cherry tree that is festooned with various feeders).
The main feature of the catch was the number of Chaffinches (below) - 10 in all, everyone fresh to the site, everyone a juvenile in P-J moult and fifty-fifty, male & female.

The rest of the catch (retraps in brackets) comprised of :
Gt. Spotted Woodpecker 1 [I forgot to 'snap' this moulting juvenile], Dunnock 1 (1), Robin 1 (1), Long-tailed Tit 1, Marsh Tit (1) - below, Coal Tit 1 (2), Blue Tit 6 (6), Great Tit 4, Green finch 2.

The next two days were very windy, with it gusting up to 40 mph. Very few birds entered the garden at all, probably less than a dozen per day. The ground is also very dry as we haven't had any appreciable rain for a fortnight and precious little for three weeks before that.

The boundary ditch (90 ft long) was dry, so it proved appropriate to get in there and cut the vegetation back. Just happened to have my long-bladed hedge-cutters with me. This has now exposed the ditch bottom and provides fresh foraging for the resident Robins and Blackbirds.

Weekend's ringing

Bank Holiday weekend! Pointless heading to or from the coast during the rush. Either of two choices - go across the traffic or STAY IN.

Decided to drive up on Sat pm, arrive about 3, put up nets and wait. Do the same on Sunday morning (watch the nets, that is) before having to go to the nursing home and watch the judo, dog show, etc. Then, take down nets, as we were going out on Monday [next blog]

Birds caught and ringed (already ringed in brackets): Dunnock 1 (1), Blackbird 2, Marsh Tit 2 (1), Coal Tit 6 (4), Blue Tit 6 (4), Great Tit 13 (7), Chaffinch 5, Greenfinch 2, Goldfinch 2.


The Goldfinches were the first for a while, and, looking at the photo, you can see the gap in the primaries where the bird (she) is moulting. There are at least 5 Marsh Tits (4 youngsters) knocking around. The Blackies were newly fledged, too.

Old birds at North Wootton

Have just heard about two local retraps that were caught in Jen's garden on the weekend of 4th/5th July. Both were adult Chaffinchs; both birds were first ringed by NOA (Holme Bird Observatory) in Fred Cooke's garden, which is about 2km away on the other side of the wood, Ling Common.

The female was ringed as a 5F (2CY) in February 2003, which makes it just over 7 years old (interval = 6yr 134days). The other, a male, was ringed as a juvenile (1CY) in June 2004, which puts it at a little over 5 years old (interval = 5yr 11days).


We (I include the 'good lady') are waiting on the ringing details of a Belgian Brambling and 3 British Siskins that were trapped back in February/March.

Titchwell 16/08

Popped along on Sunday afternoon to view the progress with the new sea wall (you can't stop an old civ.eng!). For the first time ever, I did not see a single birder that I knew - unless you include Maureen who serves the teas and lives in the village.

Not much about but did manage - Cormorant, Heron, Little Egret, Mute Swan, Shelduck (ordinary ones), Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Marsh Harrier (and 3 Monty's somewhere not too far away), Sprawk, Moorhen, Coot, Ringed Plover, Golden Plover (lots), Lapwing, Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Spot. Redshank, Greenshank & Turnstone. A good few Linnets, too.

Had a lovely, bright-white (male) Barn Owl at Guyhirn (A47) in the dusk.

We bin Narfok

Juvenile Greenfinch before it starts the PJ moult.
No, it's not a Yellowhammer! Doh!

Thees ere weekend, oi (no more dialect) repeated the netting I put up a fortnight ago. Then I caught 101 new birds and 13 retraps. You can look up the detail under 4th August.

This time, it was a mere 38 new birds plus 19 birds, all from last time, the first session of the autumn (or post fledging/breeding). Blackbirds remained steady at 2(1), though, and I recaught 3 of the 4 Marsh Tits. The young Dunnocks (2) have started to make an appearance at long last.

Coal Tit 8(4) versus 11(2) last time would suggest a population of some 3 dozen - but I caught something like 160+ individuals in the previous 12 months (and just under 100 the 12 months before that).
Blue Tits were way down from 33(8) to 8(4), but it's still nice to know that there are new birds out there every time. From August to July each year, I reckon to catch about 200 birds in this particular garden. Ours lies on the western side of the wood and bods from NOA (Jed Andrews & Co.) set a net at Fred Cooke's place which lies on the NE corner, about 3/4 mile away. Needless to say, we end up catching each others - but not as many as you would think.
The "surprise" (if you can call it that) was the decent numbers of new Great Tits at 14(7), suggesting a local population of, perhaps, 150. Last year (prev.12 months) I caught 120 individuals, so it looks like I'm missing some or they had a darned good breeding season!
The last species on the list is Greenfinch; a couple of Juvs (see photo) and a couple of 'dads', "with no passes".

This weekend, the butties were few in number, mainly Large & Small Whites and 2 Gatekeepers. Last time there was a profusion feeding on and around the Buddliea & Hydrangeas - the 2 Whites (17), Brimstone, Peacock (11+), Red Admiral (3), Painted Lady (4+), Small Tortoiseshell, Comma (2), Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Holly Blue & Gatekeeper (2).

August '09 - first weekend

Just a bit of garden ringing round a friend's house. Had a forty foot up before dusk for an early start. This is between the shrubbery, which backs onto the footpath and the wood, and the feeders in the Almond tree.

Set me back a few bob as I got through about a hundred rings. Before this weekend, I had ringed 211 new birds of 19 species in this garden; I had also clocked up 139 re-traps (re-captures from previous visits/years). Among them were a Sparrowhawk, a Stock Dove & a Collared Dove (awkward things to catch), a couple of Bramblings and 44 Siskins.

Now, almost the first bird out was a male Great Spot. that I had ringed as a 2CY back in 2007. As time went by, the following plopped into the net (re-traps always in brackets). Dunnock 1, Robin 4, Blackbird 1, Blackcap 1, Marsh Tit 4, Coal Tit 11 (2), Blue Tit 33 (8), Great Tit 32 (1), Chaffinch 11 (1) & Greenfinch 2. The only adults I caught were the Blackbird, both Greenfinches, a new and two re-trap Coal Tits, a re-trap Blue Tit and the Dunnock. That makes a total of 105 young birds this session.


The majority of the Tits were youngsters undergoing their post-juvenile moult; only one of the Blue Tits was shedding part of its tail, whereas most of the Great Tits that were in advanced stages of moult were dropping their tails and growing new ones.

I had to let one bird go. It was a fg male Greenfinch that had severe leg mange. It had lost all its claws (but was able to stand on the feeder bars) and was also a bit thin on top.