Brackenhurst, Sunday 24 March

Finally, a calm day for mist-netting at the Brackenhurst feeders. Our team comprised visiting ringers Andy & Liz Scott, Vicki, Lewis and me. A bright morning which went from frosty to sunny, and calm to breezy. The latter in the north-west which affected the nets and we finished before midday. Birds of note away from the nets were Chiffchaff and Fieldfare.

Species totals were (new/retrap) 28/11, total 39: Goldcrest 0/1, Great Tit 2/2, Robin 3/1, Dunnock 1/0, Treecreeper 2/1, Reed Bunting 2/0, Yellowhammer 18/6. Retraps were all from last two years.

In other news, we handled our 2000th Yellowhammer since we started ringing here in 2008. This valuable long-term dataset is used annually by students in their statistics module. One result from their analyses is that older Yellowhammers are more likely to be found at the feeding station later in the morning; perhaps because they’re more experienced and know where their local McDonalds is?

Below is a fine example of fault bars in a Yellowhammers tail. It will have experienced food/temperature stress in the nest, and this is a sure indication its one of last year's juveniles.

Jim