As I got in the car, the first droplets landed on the windscreen and I wondered if the morning might end up being written off, but despite the light drizzle never really going away properly, Alex T and I managed a very pleasant session at the Brack feeders.
It quickly began to feel like we were on the coast experiencing a fall as large flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare appeared and disappeared out of the murky sky. We put up the 3 feeder nets and then didn't hesitate to add a couple of others nearby with a Redwing lure playing. This immediately had the birds interested.
The first round at the feeders produced just Blue and Great Tits, of which one made us look twice as it had retained 5 primary coverts on both wings. Everything else about the bird looked like an adult (very fresh and glossy primaries for example) so we wondered if it was most likely to be an adult bird that, for whatever reason, had failed to complete its moult.
The majority of Redwings remained too high for the nets, but the sheer number around ensured we caught some and we finished on 7. One of these had a very lucky escape from a Sparrowhawk that we had seen patrolling the area. Alex heard a distress call coming from the net, sprinted down and manage to catch both birds - the Redwing seemingly unharmed and the Sparrowhawk a smart little male.
The morning finished with a Jay and a total of 32 birds processed.
Pete
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| The odd Blue Tit with 5 retained primary coverts on each wing (AT) |
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| Redwing (AT) |
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| Sparrowhawk (AT) |
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| Jay (AT) |
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