Linnets

Towards the end of July I noticed that a reasonable flock of Linnet was building up around some of my Spring Oilseed Rape plots that were maturing early thanks to the hot, dry weather. This was a great opportunity to try and ring some of these rather under-recorded birds, so I packed a couple of nets and ringing kit and headed out the following morning, a couple of hours before I was due to start work.

The plants weren’t particularly tall and this was a challenge as the birds could quite clearly see the mist-net towering above the crop, but with so many zipping about the plot, I managed a small catch of 7 Linnet and a handful of Whitethroat.

I tried another session a couple of days later but didn’t manage anything, though bird numbers appeared to have dropped. However, when I checked the field after I returned from a weekend away, the crop had been harvested and there were even more birds feeding on spilt grain, so I returned the next morning.

With the crop being gone, I set a net against a hedgerow where birds had been congregating previously, and this time used an audio-lure. This attracted large numbers of birds but the hedgerow was taller than the net and the majority of birds were found to fly over the net into the tops of the bushes. I managed 9 birds, a small sample of the large flock on site.

It was nice to handle a few individuals of a species not regularly encountered by the group, but as usual time restraints meant a more consistent effort could not be made. Once the food dries up these birds will move on, but hopefully more opportunities to study these finches will come up again in the future.

Tom