I got things going a bit earlier this year at Gedling, with my first visit on 23 July. It was a fairly short session, possibly made shorter by the fact I had forgotten to pack my new string of A-rings, so I was chucking away as many birds as I was bagging up! It was generally quiet anyway, so I had to make do with a few Phylloscs, but I did get a Treecreeper, the first I’ve caught here.
I spent the morning of 4 August on site in much better conditions and armed with some sound-lures. I ended the session on a healthy 54 birds, which kept me very busy on my own. It was fairly ‘tit-heavy’, with 24 Blue Tit, but a mix of other species included 8 Whitethroat, my first Lesser Whitethroat for the site, and the second Woodpigeon to be ringed there.
On 14 August, I was joined by Jim, as he was interested to see how I was getting on at the site. It was nice to have a ringing companion, making setting nets and processing birds a lot more manageable. We started well with a decent first net round, but the sun and heat soon got too much and birds appeared to stop moving about, so we took down not long after 10am. We managed 28 birds, with the catch thankfully not being dominated by Tits! Willow Warblers were certainly on the move, with 15 trapped, and a few Whitethroat were still around.
The totals for the three sessions comprised: 26 Blue Tit (and 2 retrap), 23 Willow Warbler, 11 Whitethroat, 10 Great Tit, 7 Chiffchaff, 4 Blackcap, 2 Long-tailed Tit and singles of Goldcrest, Lesser Whitethroat, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon and Wren.
Tom
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