Toton, Christmas Eve

A perfect day for mist-netting was forecast for today so I was thinking about a trip to the golf club to try for some Redwing but unfortunately nobody was available. So I decided to try in the garden, most of you will know that I do very little ringing in the garden but recently Sparrowhawks have been using the birds on our feeders as their own local takeaway, so I thought perhaps if I caught them they might think again before returning!

The forecast turned out to be correct with not a breath of wind so before light I opened the net – tried unsuccessfully with an mp3 lure to bring Redwing in – and caught a few of the expected garden birds. Then a Blue Tit went in the net and just as I was thinking of going to get it out a blur from the left streaked in heading straight for the Blue Tit, veered off at the last minute and sat on top of the net pole. After cursing and stopping in my tracks the bird took off dropped round the back of the net and headed for the Blue Tit again, this time it went into the net and after swiftly getting out to the net I extracted this little lady:

Thanks to Christine for taking the pictures.

Oh, and the Blue Tit, a retrap from last winter, thankfully escaped the close attention of the Sparrowhawk unscathed.......and so did my fingers.

Happy Christmas to all.

Kev