Granby, Sunday 7 November

I'd forgotten my rule about Granby - that you should always wear one more layer than you think you need. It was pretty fresh out there first thing, but Jim, Duncan & I had a very pleasant first session of the season.

The bait had only been out a few days (and we'd already suffered some vandalism of the hoppers!) so our catch of 38 birds wasn't bad really. Amongst these were 10 Long-tailed Tits, a Willow Tit and 2 Goldcrests. Having not ringed there last winter, any retrap instantly became a little more interesting and we caught a Blue Tit and a Long-tailed Tit from 3 and 2 years ago respectively.

Sightings included about 50 Skylarks in loose flocks, several Meadow Pipits, several hundred Redwings and Fieldfares, about 8 Brambling, 25 Golden Plover and 170 Pink-footed Geese heading south-east. Amazingly, we did not see or hear a single Yellowhammer or Tree Sparrow. One particularly odd bird seen was a leucistic male Reed Bunting - a very pale buff bird with only the shadow of the head pattern and almost white flight feathers.
Pete

Jim charms a Goldcrest.

 Duncan holds his finger out hoping to do the same, but they've all headed back to Norway looking for somewhere warmer than Granby.