Castlerock Golf Club - Early December

The numbers of Fieldfare are starting to build at Castlerock, from 6 on the last visit, up to c50 on the 1st of December and upwards of 70 the following week. As our main target species at the site, our track record of catching them here isn't the best, with just a few each year when we have had up to 600 spending weeks feeding here. As mentioned in the last Castlerock post, we do plan to cut some new net rides which cover some of the higher bushes away from the hollow but progress has been slow as we have been distracted by open nets and catching a few birds on a couple of visits.

The first of these visits was on the Saturday 1st of December where I just about avoided the showers inland and opened three nets, with John appearing mid-morning. We acquired some new Fieldfare recorded calls from an online forum and put them to work but unfortunately they didn't attract anything... but we did get one Fieldfare from the net with no call playing.

Fieldfare

The catch was a pretty small one but we did spend a bit of time cutting these identified new rides with about 10 metres cut through the dense brambles and scrub plus we tidied up another old net ride.

As always, Greenfinches are a pleasure to catch and this site remains really the only site where we see Greenfinch now, let alone catch them. 

Castlerock Golf Club - Saturday 1st December 2018
                      New      
Blue Tit           1
Bullfinch         2              
Chaffinch        4
Dunnock         1
Fieldfare          1
Greenfinch      5
Robin              1

Total              15           

Greenfinch

On Sunday the 9th it was solo session for myself with the aim of continuing the progress on these new net rides. The weather wasn't too bad so I set two 18m and one 12m nets in the old rides which seemed to be sheltered from the NW wind that was whipping into the river.
The birds trickled through at 2 or 3 a net round so kept me distracted and I only managed to cut another six metres of new ride.

Blackcap

We have caught a few wintering Blackcaps at Castlerock over recent winters so I stuck on Blackcap song and managed to attract this lady. They are very inconspicuous amongst the dense scrub and would go unnoticed without the nets. 

The retrappped Bullfinch was a 2015 bird and the Blackbirds were both from the winter of 2016/17. 

Castlerock Golf Club - Sunday 9th December 2018
                      New        Retrap
Blackbird                          2
Blackcap         1
Blue Tit           1
Bullfinch         2                1
Chaffinch        6
Greenfinch      5
Robin               1
Song Thrush   1

Total                17             3       

I've been still working away at the patch birding for the Patch Work Challenge and on Sunday I hit the 130 species mark once again and matched my total for 2017 with a nice Merlin zipping by and landing on a bush before being flushed by the local hoodie mob (Hooded Crows). I've eased my foot off the pedal in the past 5/6 weeks with very little on offer but I'm still waiting on Gadwall, Jack Snipe and Moorhen so there are likely options available to beat last year. I have tried three full spins of the local Snipe spots this autumn finding 70+ Common Snipe but still no Jacks - I missed Jack Snipe last winter entirely when normally I'd expect to see 5/6 some days. 

Dramatic sunrise 

Castlerock Golf Club 24/11/2018 & Scottish Chaffinch

On Saturday morning John and I shifted out attentions to the west shore of the Bann Estuary and made our first visit to Castlerock Golf Club of the winter. As you regular readers will know, this is somewhat similar habitat to that of Portstewart Strand but much smaller in area and all the Sea Buckthorn plants are female meaning they produce millions of berries and attract some large numbers of thrushes and finches, but generally in late winter.

As we hadn't been to the site since the 7th of January at the start of the year the net rides needed to be cleared of the brambles, nettles and quite a bit of cutting back of fallen bushes and branches. We tackled the easy ride first and had the first 18 metres net up and catching within 20 minutes and had the second 12m ride up and running in another 20 minutes. The nets started to catch a few birds so our progress in the other rides was slowed and we didn't quite get finished but did get another 24m cleared with another 18m to go. The session was cut short because of a very unfortunate discovery  on the receding tide.

The location of our nets generally follow the bottom of the hollow of the main stand of Sea Buckthorn but this tends not to be the best place to intercept the thrushes which stick to the higher bushes on the slopes - we had up to 600 Fieldfare feeding amongst the scrub last winter and we only caught one! At the same time we probably had a mixed flock of up to 175 Redwing, Blackbirds & Song Thrush and again only caught three, six and seven respectively. We are eyeing up new potential net rides which might rectify this a bit but working with the steep slopes and avoiding flying golf balls isn't easy!

A net full of Chaffinches & a couple of Blue Tits

From the two nets in a couple of hours we caught 18 new birds and controlled a female Chaffinch with a BTO ring. There were only 6 Fieldfare present and again they avoided the nets.

Castlerock Golf Club 24th November 2018

                          New          Control
Blue Tit               2
Bullfinch             4
Chaffinch            8                   1
Dunnock             1
Robin                  1
Song Thrush       2

Total                 18                   1         


The new BTO system means that you receive details of controls within a few days, subject to them being uploaded by the other ringer.
This controlled Chaffinch was ringed at Drummond, Inverness on the 17th of September 2018 and controlled by us 68 days later at a minimum distance of 298km. This is our second control Chaffinch for the Bann Estuary with the last bird also coming from the Highlands of Scotland near Shielfoot (marked below) in a very similar movement. She was quite a large winged lady so possibly a Scandinavian moving through Scotland.

Chaffinch from Inverness to Castlerock

Copeland Bird Obs Winter Training - November 2017

I've been slacking once again and not updated the blog in a month but we have been a little idle over the past three/four weeks down to weekend weather and lack of free time. My last time out, until today, was back on the 27th of October at Portstewart Strand, so we really missed out on the thrush passage.

This morning Steve, David and I were up in Antrim for the first Copeland Bird Observatory training session of the winter. We ring here once a month Nov-Mar outside the Obs season to give the trainees a little more experience and to handle some new species. We had a good mix of 5 trainees, 3 C and 3 A permit holders.
The feeding station was really quiet with not a Goldfinch in sight and very few thrushes but we still processed over 100 birds.
The wild bird seed plot produced half the haul from two well placed nets.
The best bird of the morning was the first Blackcap for the site and 28 new Linnets is a great catch.

Blackcap

Antrim Ringing Totals - 19/11/2017
                  
                             New       Retraps

Blackcap                1
Blue Tit                  6              2
Chaffinch              17             5
Coal Tit                  4              1
Dunnock                2              1
Goldcrest               8
Great Tit                 1               2
Lesser Redpoll      5
Linnet                    28              1
Long-tailed Tit      10
Robin                     7
Wren                      3

Totals                   92              12        

Initial signs are that it was a bad year for Blue and Great Tits. This time last year we caught 14 Greti but just one juvenile today. The Blue Tit catch was also low and only 3 of the 8 were juveniles. There were a few Blackbirds around but not feeding on the fruit trees just yet. We caught 27 new Blackbirds in the first two visits of last winter. A cold snap and a touch of frost would help the next catch!

Long-tailed Tits

Although we had planned to carry on at Portstewart Strand for a few more visits, it turns out that the 27th of October was the final visit of the season. I was down by myself in mild sunny conditions with some light northerlies. As I sit now I don't remember all that much about the day but I did catch 34 new birds. The total was heavily boosted by Linnets with 17 new birds.

Portstewart Strand 27/10/2017                            
                             New         Retrap
Blackbird               2                        
Blue Tit                  1      
Bullfinch                2                2
Chaffinch               4
Goldcrest               2                2 
Goldfinch               1
Great Tit                 1      
Dunnock                                  1  
Linnet                    17  
Robin                                       1         
Song Thrush         1
Wren                      3

Totals                    34              6         

Bullfinch

John was out on the 2nd  of November at the University River Site and over a few hours caught 23 new birds including 12 Long-tailed Tits and a Blackcap.

We were all up at the BTO Northern Ireland Birdwatchers Conference last Saturday at Oxford Island and thoroughly enjoyed the range of talks with plenty of focus on ringing, migration and talks on Ireland's two bird observatories!

I will follow up with the end of season totals for Portstewart Strand in the next month or so. As for now it should be back to Castlerock but I have been saying that for a few weeks and not made it out the door! There has been no sign of the usual winter thrushes feeding on the Sea Buckthorn berries but it is early doors yet. I have prepared the net rides at Castlerock but other than that, we don't have any real plans for the winter and have yet to set up any feeders but will find other bits and pieces to keep us busy.

27m net ride at Castlerock

Portstewart Strand 06th & 8th October 2017

On Friday (06th) John, Ken and I were joined by a couple from France who had last ringed with us back in 2015 when they were studying at the University of Ulster. They have both since gone on to complete their undergrad degrees and now a masters in Ecology & Water Chemistry and are enjoying a bit of time touring around Ireland. The conditions were perfect with hardly a breath of wind and good cloud cover.

We set most of the nets pre dawn and had one 'WinterWoozle' tape playing in the hopes of some winter thrushes. On checking the first net, we had caught couple of thrushes and normally I extract the biggest birds out of the net first but an interesting Sylvia warbler caught my eye in the top corner. As I lowered the net I could see that the bird was certainly not a Blackcap and was in fact the first ever Garden Warbler I have seen in Northern Ireland, so unsurprisingly a new species for the site. The only other one that we have caught in NI was a bird at the River Site at the Uni by Rick some four/five years previous.

Garden Warbler

Bird numbers were more numerous this morning but a little less diverse including 300+ Meadow Pipit, 100+ Skylarks, c20 Reed Bunting, another half dozen new Stonechats, 10+ Song Thrush and 20+ Chaffinch. Other birds around included the ever present hunting Peregrine, the first Little Grebe of the autumn, a second Great Crested Grebe and 24 Whooper Swans.

Reed Bunting

The nets amongst the gorse did well, chipping in with two more new Stonechats, five Reed Buntings and five Meadow Pipits. We did attempt to catch some Skylarks as the small flocks passed mid-morning but we need a proper net set on the open ground and a bit of luck.


Portstewart Strand 06/10/2017                            
                              New         Retrap
Blackbird               3
Blue Tit                  1                  2
Bullfinch                1                  2
Chaffinch               7          
Dunnock                1                  1
Garden Warbler    1
Goldcrest               2                  1             
Meadow Pipit         5
Reed Bunting         5
Robin                      1            
Song Thrush          3                 1 
Stonechat               2
Wren                       3                  1  

Totals                    34                 8     



The forecast for this morning (8th) was looking like a no go and I hummed and haad with the idea when my alarm went off but I decided to go for it after a short snooze on the alarm. As I set off from home there was light drizzle and I was regretting getting out of bed but by the time I got to the coast there was no rain in sight and it remained that way all morning. The sky was very dark and heavy and suppressed the bird activity until mid morning when things got moving. With the risk of rain I went for just the two nets in the deepest cover in the scrub and then after an hour put up one of the nets amongst the gorse and a two shelf over the saltmarsh.

The ringing was really slow to start with just a retrap Blackbird and two new Robins until around 9am. Things visibly picked up as it brightened with many more birds flitting about and a few more in the nets. A couple of the other net rides might have caught well had I erected them! There was apparently nothing uncommon around and no sign of any warblers but I was pleased enough with the catch after the poor start.

Chaffinch

Portstewart Strand 08/10/2017                            
                              New         Retrap
Blackbird                                  1
Bullfinch                3                  1
Chaffinch               6                  1                          
Linnet                     7
Meadow Pipit         6
Robin                      2                 
Stonechat               2

Totals                    26                 3    


That afternoon, John went for a stroll through the dunes and picked up the first Redwings of the autumn and heard a Phylloscopus warbler calling in the scrub but it remained unidentified. We rarely ring past 11 and don't think we have ever gone beyond midday but we could be missing plenty in the afternoons!

Quick Start to Winter

The Sea Buckthorn bushes at Castlerock Golf Course are still drooping from the weight of the millions of bright orange berries and attracting good numbers of birds.  The first frosts seem to have trigged the fermentation of the berries and they are beginning to ooze with an aroma of what I'd imagine an alcoholic Balsamic Vinegar would smell like. 
There are good numbers of Blackbird, Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Bullfinch gorging on the berries but the hoped for winter thrushes are lacking with only a couple of Fieldfare floating by and a single Redwing overhead.
On the first visit last Saturday David, Dean and I spent half an hour clearing the brambles etc. from the net rides but we were up and running fairly quickly.  We trapped a total of 35 new birds including the first Greenfinches I've caught this year (hard to come by these days) plus our first fledged House Sparrow for the year and the first for the estuary.

Greenfinches

Dean and I were down again this morning with another decent catch of 27 new birds and 6 retraps from the previous week.  The best of the birds was a female Blackcap which are always special birds in winter.  The nice morning was boosted with the sightings of Harbour Porpoises, Grey Seal and 54 species of birds including 1500+ Lapwing, Peregrine, Red-throated Diver, Gannet, Goldeneye and a patch tick in the form of a female Pheasant - species 122 for the patch this year!           

Blackcap

PSS Ringing Totals 26/11/2016 + 03/12/2016
                                New      Retrap
Blackbird                   4                          
Blackcap                   1
Blue Tit                    13              3
Bullfinch                    4
Chaffinch                 15             
Dunnock                   1            
Goldcrest                  1
Goldfinch                  1
Greenfinch                8
House Sparrow         1
Reed Bunting            1  
Robin                        7              3
Song Thrush             5          

Total                        62             6            

Sea Buckthorn

We didn't visit the site until the end of December last year (when we also set it up) and we anticipate the berries to last at least March, so that should keep is busy until the return of spring.

Dean and David with the ringing buggy (handy for the walk to get to the site)

In my traipsing's across the Bann Estuary I have found a few great pools which hold good numbers of Snipe and the odd Jack Snipe.  I visited one of these pools 3/4 weeks and flushed 69 Snipe in a relatively small area.  Before the first visit to Castlerock we thought we would put up a couple of nets and see if we could catch any before dawn. It didn't go quite as planned and the c20 Snipe we flushed all swung left and flushed out over the estuary rather than going straight towards the nets.  We devised a new plan and gave it a quick attempt a few evenings later, this time with a line of 58 metres of net parallel with the shore and 18m at 90 degrees on the end.  Unfortunately while setting the nets before darkness we managed to flush 16 Snipe even though we were trying to be as quiet as possible.  There were only 2 birds left in the pool as we splashed through and again they missed.
We will probably give it one last attempt but set the nets in complete darkness early morning to see if that does the trick! 


You may remember that we had sighted a couple of Long-eared Owls roosting in the scrub at Portstewart Strand during the ringing attempts in October so we thought it would be worth a go at catching them.  We have had a bit of luck in the past at mist netting the birds in darkness at the University but the success rate, is of course, very low.
John and Dean gave it a first attempt at PSS last week and managed to attract three LEO's in the vicinity of the nets and one bird was very close to being trapped but unfortunately it veered to the side of the net.
We gave it another attempt last night with the net placement tweaked a little but to no avail.  We may have glimpsed a bird ghost behind us but that was about the height of it.
We did strike with two Redshanks, caught in a net placed along the mudflats in the low tide. 

A few weeks back I joined David and Phil from Copeland Bird Observatory to help run the first of this winters ringing training programme in Antrim.  We had a full quota of 5 trainees and had a pretty good morning, although we were restricted to around 3 hours.  The site has a fantastic supply of berries, a small orchard, a wild bird seed cover field and a couple of feeders, so plenty to work with.  There were a large number of Linnets, House Sparrow and Chaffinch feeding in the 'wild bird table' and we managed to catch a small fraction, including 20 Linnet and 2 House Sparrow.  The small orchard was rammed with Blackbirds on arrival but only 6 were caught.  We can only access the site after 08.30, so we miss the opportunity to get the nets up before first light but a catch of 72 new birds was still great!

CBO Winter Training - Antrim 19/11/2016
                                New      Retrap
Blackbird                   6              1            
Blue Tit                      5              1
Bullfinch                    1   
Chaffinch                  11             2
Coal Tit                      2
Dunnock                     1          
Goldcrest                    2
Great Tit                    13            1           
House Sparrow           2
Lesser Redpoll           1
Linnet                        20
Long-tailed Tit            5
Robin                         2              1
Song Thrush              1           

Total                          72             6            

House Sparrow

There will be a further 4 training events from now to March, with one a month, then it's back to the Observatory for the 2017 season. 


Our ringing attempts for the rest of the year will probably be more of the same, although we may return to the university to try and catch some LEO at the traditional site.  When down and around Portstewart Strand in the dark we heard pretty big numbers of waders roosting on the far side so we may return to Grangemore for another attempt or two. 

The Blog has hit a new milestone in the last few days topping the 25k mark, sitting on over 25700 this evening.  The reading rate has certainly increased as time has gone on and the next 25k should hopefully come much faster!

Early October

The spell of easterlies has continued into a second week and they've gradually got stronger and brought some wetter weather in the later half of this week.  In the quieter spells we managed another couple of visits to Portstewart Strand in what you would call 'ideal conditions'.
The hoped for rarities from the east didn't materialise and Northern Ireland managed just two Yellow-browned Warblers when there have probably been 1000+ across the UK and Ireland including 50 ringed at Cape Clear Bird Observatory at the far end of Ireland.  NI didn't miss out totally and notched up its first Red-flanked Bluetail and a nice Red-breasted Flycatcher - all four birds in County Down.
We on the other hand couldn't even muster a Blackcap or Chiffchaff but we have seen a continued run of thrushes.  The first few Redwings started passing through last Friday with further Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and the first Mistle Thrush I've seen at Portstewart Strand itself. Goldcrests continue to flit through with birds scattered everywhere through the scrub.  Other notable arrivals include more new Stonechats, another wave of Blue Tits (no doubt local), 3+ Great Creasted Grebes, flocks of Skylarks, the first Jack Snipe of the year and a Long-tailed Duck which I missed.

Skylark

Ringing was by no means prolific but another 3 new Stonechats and a Skylark were nice catches. October was the best month for numbers last year so hopefully things will pick up with a return of some northerlies.

Stonechat

PSS Ringing Totals 07 - 11/10/2016
                                New      Retrap
Blackbird                    6             2
Blue Tit                      7    
Bullfinch                    1
Chaffinch                   3                  
Dunnock                                    2
Goldcrest                   4    
Goldfinch                   5              3
Great Tit                    4               3
Meadow Pipit            3
Reed Bunting            1
Robin                         1               2
Skylark                      1       
Song Thrush             4
Stonechat                  3               1
Wren                         2               1              

Total                       45               14             

Song Thrush

Last week Ken hosted Siobhan in his garden for another training session.  Conditions were good and the number of birds visiting the feeders continue to build.  Chaffinch, as usual, were top of the bill with 13 new birds while Coals Tits were the most numerous species processed with 18.


Kens Garden 06/10/2016
                                New      Retrap
Blue Tit                       7            4    
Chaffinch                   13           3        
Coal Tit                      9             9
Dunnock                    1              1
Goldcrest                   2    
Goldfinch                   8
Great Tit                    8              6
Robin                         4              2
Wren                         4                          

Total                       56              25             


Unfortunately our weekend trip to Copeland Bird Observatory has been canceled due to the weather but we will hopefully get rescheduled for a couple of weeks time.  As such, the prospects for weekend ringing look limited to a wind restricted short window on Saturday morning but we may give it a go.

We've had word of another Storm Petrel recovery but I'll update on that next time.

Early December Ringing

This morning Steve, Thom and I met up with a group from Copeland Bird Observatory at a winter ringing site near Antrim.  The site has been used in previous winters for training sessions and this time around there were five trainers and four trainees.  It was a frosty morning with the mercury hitting -2 °C but there were plenty of birds about.  The site has a wealth of fruit trees and berry bushes, which attracts Thrushes in decent numbers with c50 Redwing, c40 Blackbird, c10 Song Thrush, c10 Fieldfare and a couple of Mistle Thrush around this morning.  The feeders brought in plenty of tits and finches but the a real draw was an area of winter cereal cover which held c35 Linnet, c30 Chaffinch, c25 House Sparrow, c15 Lesser Redpoll plus a few other bits and pieces - a proper net combination here should work well in the next sessions. 

                             Sparrowhawk                           SF

 



It was a productive morning with 84 birds processed of 16 different species.  One of the first birds to hit the nets was a nice male Sparrowhawk flying low around the feeding station.  A Grey Wagtail amongst the Apple trees was unexpected but gladly welcomed by one of the trainees.  All four trainees managed to get new species, including two who got multiple new birds.  We only managed to trap two species of Thrush but 11 new Blackbirds is very good, a few of which were certainly of a continental origin.  We wrapped up at 12.30 just before the rain started. 

Ringing Totals 13/12/2015                                     
                                      
                                        New       Retrap           

Blackbird                        11              2 

Blue Tit                            8               2

Chaffinch                        22              1         

Coal Tit                            2               3              

Dunnock                          2

Goldcrest                         1

Goldfinch                         1

Great Tit                           6               3

Grey Wagtail                   1

Lesser Redpoll                4

Linnet                               7

Long-tailed Tit                                 1

Redwing                           1                                                             

Robin                                2               2

Sparrowhawk                  1

Wren                                1

Total                                70              14  

On Tuesday morning Ken hosted Steve for a bit of training in his back garden and were joined by John later in the morning.  The morning was an ideal weather window with dry, calm conditions, plus it wasn't freezing for the ringers! 

They caught a large number of birds and had to close a couple of nets in order to cope - hence Johns arrival.  A total of 102 birds were processed, with perhaps 35% of these having been caught before.  There are a few nice birds in the garden at the moment including two Brambling and two wintering Blackcaps.  Unfortunately the former weren't caught but they might stick around with the c50 Chaffinch.  The Sparrowhawk ringed last time out has continued to visit daily and was retrapped. 

                                                               Sparrowhawk                                                           SF

Ringing Totals 08/12/2015                                     
                                      
                                   Processed           

Blackbird                        3

Blackcap                         2

Blue Tit                          11

Chaffinch                       32             

Coal Tit                           9                             

Dunnock                         1

Goldcrest                        1

Goldfinch                       24

Great Tit                         18                                                             

Sparrowhawk                  1

Total                               102     

 

 

Mid October Update

Over the past week or so we have managed to get a few visits to Portstewart Stand and the university river site, boosted by John having some time off.  Ken has also kicked off the winter ringing in his garden.  The weather has been fantastic yet again and it is hard to believe that it has lasted so long!

Redwing

As we progress through the autumn, you notice the subtle changes in migration, day to day.  Earlier in the week, Skylarks were on the move in big numbers but by the weekend, the main wave had passed and the Thrushes took over.  On Saturday alone, seven Song Thrush and four Blackbird were caught, plus five Redwing over the weekend, with many more present.  Goldfinch and Chaffinch numbers are also building and Twite have made a first appearance for the autumn/winter.  A new species for the dune system came in the form of two stunning male Yellowhammers.  Duck numbers on the estuary are also on the rise, with plenty of Mallard, Teal and Wigeon. 

Blackbird

The sessions at Portstewart Strand have been productive and we have caught some nice birds.  The best of these would be three Skylark, five Redwing and three Reed Bunting.  The totals include a short visit from the 1st of the month, which I had missed on the last update.  It included probably the last Chiffchaff of the year and the only Blackcap so far this month, although I expect a few more in the remainder of the season. 

                                                       Skylark                                                (JC)

PSS Ringing Totals

                                        New        Retrap           

Blackbird                         5                 2  

Blackcap                          1                 1

Blue Tit                            2

Bullfinch                          1                 1

Chaffinch                         5

Chiffchaff                        1

Coal Tit                           2                                      

Dunnock                          1                 6              

Goldcrest                         1

Goldfinch                       32

Great Tit                         3                  

Linnet                             5

Meadow Pipit                8                  

Redwing                         5

Reed Bunting                 3 

Robin                              3                   1                                                                               

Skylark                           3

Song Thrush                  8                                                                      

Wren                              1                    2             

Total                              90                 13                

 

 

 The river site remains quiet, although there has been noticeable migration overhead and in the nets with Blackbird, Chaffinch and Robins moving.  The best bird caught was a Treecreeper, accompanied by a couple of Goldcrest.  We wouldn't ring in many woodland sites, so only handle one or two Treeceepers a year.  It may potentially have been a bird in search of pastures new, as the habitat contains only a few trees with a trunk girth greater than 7/8 inches. 

 

                                                       Treecreeper                                              (JC)

 

 

University River Site Ringing Totals

                          

                                       New        Retrap           

Blackbird                          2                 

Blue Tit                             1                1

Bullfinch                           1        

Chaffinch                         8                            

Goldcrest                          2                                 

Great Tit                           4

Robin                                4                                                                              

Treecreeper                      1     

Total                                 23               1                

 

 

 Redwing

 

 

On Friday morning Ken had a session in his garden for Siobhan to continue her training.  The sunflower hearts are really starting to pull in the birds, including very large numbers of Coal Tits.  Of the 70 birds processed, 29 of those were Coal Tits, which is much higher than the norm.  At this time of year they can become a bit of a pest at the feeders, as they only eat a fraction of the food and continually return and stash food around the garden.  They make good training for extracting small birds from mist nets though!

 

 

Ken's Garden Ringing Totals 16/10/2015

 

                                        Total              

Blackbird                          1                 

Blue Tit                             4

Chaffinch                         15

Coal Tit                            29

Dunnock                            1             

Goldfinch                         10

Great Tit                           9              

Greenfinch                        1

Total                                 70                       

 

 

 

 

All in all in it has been a very productive month thanks to the very settled weather and hopefully we can squeeze in another couple of sessions.  So far we have processed 268 birds of 25 species.  The obvious highlight being the Yellow-browed Warbler and I doubt that will be topped this year.  If the weather allows it, we should be back in action next weekend.