Friday 21 October 2011

Too late

So I woke a little late this morning so I had to rush to put the nets up in time (or maybe a little late.) As I rushed around leaving my headlamp off to cause minimal disturbance I was cursing and swearing to myself, there’d been a fall of thrushes in the night and I could hear Redwing, Song thrush, Blackbird, Mistle Thrush and Fieldfare leaving the hedges! I estimated at least 150 Redwings 5 minutes of intense calling with hardly a second still, Similar numbers of Fieldfare and a few dozen made up of the rest. Robins and Wrens ticked as they woke and exited the garden quickly. Chiffchaffs Phwipt from the hedges too. I heard an unfamiliar call too a little like an Acro, (harsh and brief) but I only heard it once and no sign of anything out of the ordinary.

 

I rushed the first round then expecting nets sagging with thrushes; not to be I’m afraid. Hardly any thrushes compared to the numbers before first light! I took 3 Redwing, 1 Fieldfare and 2 Song Thrushes. The Big Female Sparrowhawk brought me a Song thrush into a net before leaving.

The rounds were quiet and varied with species after that which was nice. 12 newly ringed species with an additional 3 retrapped so 15 species caught.

 

At 11 I rolled the Greenfinch tape on and managed to catch 15.

 

74 New birds today. Blue tit (31 new) and  Greenfinch (15 new) the most numerous. Also Chaffinch, Brambling, Song Thrush, Fieldfare, Redwing, Wren, Robin, Lesser Redpoll, Chiffchaff (Colybita) and Reed Bunting the new birds with Great Tit, Bullfinch and Yellow-browed Warbler Retraps. The Yellow-browed died today, weighing 10% less that the other day (and she was thin then). A sad end for such a pretty bird.

 

Highlight sightings include: Rough-Legged Buzzards, Kestrel, Red Kite, Common Gull ( A big passage near to dusk), Sparrowhawk (4, all avoiding the nets), A Yellowhammer flew over too.

 

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