Granby, Sunday 8 March

After beautiful sunny Saturday, it was a rather windy start packing the Landie at Vicars Croft. Only Jim, Gary and myself made it for the morning session. The usual nets were quickly put up and there was plenty of evidence of birds moving around the site, including lots of Yellowhammers and pair of Jays.

It was a steady morning with each net round producing around 10 birds – just enough for me to process on my own and get my eye in on aging and sexing Yellowhammers. The majority of the birds caught were Great Tits, Chaffinch and a number of new Yellowhammers. The final net round added a bit of variety with Tree Sparrow, Long-tailed Tits and one of the Jays that had been calling all morning.

Other birds noted included Buzzard, Green Woodpecker and Skylark.

The majority of the retraps were from last winter, bar a Great Tit from 2011/12 and single Blue and Great Tits from 2010/11.

Total captures were 63 (25 new / 29 retrap): Blue Tit 3/9, Chaffinch 8/2, Dunnock 1/2, Great Tit 3/10, Jay 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 2/0, Robin 3/0, Tree Sparrow 1/0, Yellowhammer 14/4.

Alex

 Tree Sparrow and Jay (A. Phillips)