Jim, Alex and I met Ben at the farm in Elton on a cold but bright morning, hoping that the day would bring plenty of birds coming to the feeding site, especially as the supplementary feeding elsewhere on the farm had stopped for the season. Ben had been feeding the site regularly and had seen plenty of birds coming and going, including some Brambling.
We set the nets, with some affected by a stronger than expected breeze, but nonetheless we managed a decent first round, which dropped off subsequently, with a steady trickle of birds for the remainder of the morning. There were indeed plenty of Brambling, with birds calling around the copse all morning, but only one found the nets. A few Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting added to the mix along with a couple of pairs of Bullfinch.
Later in the morning we put on a tape for Chiffchaff and managed to catch 4 birds during the session, along with an unexpected male Blackcap, that was caught without any use of sound lures.
All in, it was a pleasant early spring morning with the sunshine keeping us very warm and even stirring awake several butterflies with Brimstone, Orange-tip and Peacock seen.
Total new birds ringed were Blackbird 1, Blackcap 1, Blue Tit 1, Brambling 1, Bullfinch 4, Chaffinch 1, Chiffchaff 4, Long-tailed Tit 1, Reed Bunting 4 and Yellowhammer 13. There were also 3 retraps, a Blackbird and 2 Dunnock.
Tom
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Brambling (A. Turnbull)
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Reed Bunting (T. Shields)
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| Yellowhammer (T. Shields) |
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| Chiffchaff (T. Shields) |
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