Sutton Bonington, Saturday 27 February

At last a decent day for mist netting at a weekend, so Gary, Alex, Tom, Sue and I made the most of it at Sutton Bonington. We got the nets up fairly quickly despite having to replace the guys in the Hawthorne hedge that had recently been flayed!

There were a few Yellowhammers around on the last visit and they had been there the day before when I went to check the bait. The first catch was good (and included Yellowhammers) and subsequent catches were OK, giving us a steady morning with a total of 35 birds including 10 retraps.

The species totals were (new/retrap): Dunnock 2/2, Chaffinch 3/0, Goldfinch 8/3, Greenfinch 1/0, Yellowhammer 8/0, Reed Bunting 2/0, Robin 0/3, Blackbird 0/1, Blue Tit 1/1. The retraps were all recently ringed birds.

At one time there were 5 Buzzards visible in the sky and a few small parties of Fieldfares passed over.

Kev

Yellowhammer (S. Lakeman)