Holme Pierrepont - Sun 30 Aug

Another pleasant, but fairly short morning on the A52 side. We were stopped by strong wind between 11 and 12 but finished on 54 birds.

Today's top two: Whitethroat and Willow Warbler

Still good numbers of warblers and capture totals included:
9 Whitethroat
6 Willow Warbler
5 Lesser Whitethroat
5 Blackcap
2 Garden Warbler
2 Reed Warbler
2 Chiffchaff

Lesser Whitethroat

Amongst the birds caught was a control Chiffchaff in very heavy moult so one would guess that it hadn't come too far from its breeding grounds and therefore perhaps it had been ringed on passage - we shall have to wait and see. We also caught a young Greenfinch in the process of replacing its inner 5 primaries. We sometimes spot this aberrant moult in birds over the winter but it was interesting to see a bird going through the process and still with a streaky belly.

Garden Warbler

One noticeable feature of the day was the increase in visible migration. Sight records included at least 2 Whimbrel, a Greenshank, a Tree Pipit, 3 Yellow Wagtails, 12 Shoveler and several Meadow Pipits. Swallows and Sand Martins were also moving in a much more purposeful way to the south.
Pete