Kingston on Soar, Saturday 13 December

A beautiful winter's morning broke as we set nets for the first time at the new Kingston on Soar feeding site. We put up just 2 x 6m and 2 x 9m nets and made a base a short distance away. The first net round produced a good catch and the next and again the next. We were pleasantly surprised by the numbers caught, to have been perfect it would have needed a bigger range of species. But the team of Sue, Tom, Alex, Alistair, Gary and I were happy enough with the final total of 72 all new birds (I’m sure that the next visit will include a good number of retraps!).

The total comprised: Treecreeper 1, Long-tailed Tit 11, Robin 2, Chaffinch 15, Blue Tit 20, Great Tit 16, Goldfinch 3, Dunnock 1, Blackbird 1 and Jay 2.

It was surprising number of tits in this farmland site, especially as there were no peanuts or other such favourite food of tits but as the winter goes on the site will hopefully pull in more farmland species. The two Jays were unexpected and managed to bring a little blood to the fingers of Tom and Sue! We were also joined for the session by potential new trainee, Jack.

Kev

(Alex Phillips x 3)

(Gary Goddard x 3)