Weatherman, he say: mild overnight with northerly winds 5-8 mph, but when Kev, Gary, Pete S, Emma, Duncan, Rebecca and I got to the Brack feeders this morning just before dawn, it was calm and very frosty. It turned into a bright and sunny day and it was great to be out ringing in good company.
The overnight cold maybe made the birds keener and we managed to process 98 birds with a nice mix of 12 species. Great Tit, Chaffinch and Yellowhammer were the main species caught, but nine Redwing were an excellent bonus, all attracted to a new sound lure (we've only ringed 16 in the last 5 winters). It's the norm to catch Long-tailed Tits in flocks, with the calling netted birds pulling the others. However, we caught four single birds today and one of them had originally been ringed five years and five days ago!
As we walked down to the ringing site, it was obvious there were a fair few thrushes roosting in the hedges, and we also heard a Tawny Owl calling.
Totals for individual species ringed/retrapped (58/40): Great Spotted Woodpecker 0/1, Blue Tit 1/5, Great Tit 5/10, Dunnock 2/6, Blackbird 4/0, Redwing 9/0, Robin 2/2, Long-tailed Tit 2/2, Chaffinch 14/6, Goldfinch 4/0, Bullfinch 1/0, Yellowhammer 14/8.
Jim
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