Migrants in the garden

Blackcap

An early start for a ringing session in my garden at Wyken Hall, Suffolk, this morning. Had the net open by 05.15, and had a steady trickling of birds until I had to pack up to get to work.

Nice to see the first of the season's migrants popping into the net (predictably, Blackcap and Chiffchaff), as well as a couple of nice retraps.



Chiffchaff



Birds trapped:

New (Retrap) Control:

Great Spotted Woodpecker 0 (1) 0
Wren 1 (1) 0
Dunnock 0 (2) 0
Blackcap 1 (0) 0
Chiffchaff 1 (0) 0
Long-tailed Tit 0 (0) 1
Coal Tit 0 (0) 2
Blue Tit 2 (0) 1
Great Tit 2 (2) 0
Nuthatch 0 (1) 0
Goldfinch 0 (1) 0

Retrap Great Spotted Woodpecker

YELHA before work

Nipped out to The Wents for an hour at dawn before heading off to work. Just put up a 3 metre net in a gap in a hawthorn hedge to see what flew along the hedge-line. Just 3 birds, all new.

1 Male Yellowhammer, and 2 Long-tailed Tits.

Ringing - 18th March in Suffolk

Started the day with a bash at the 'Foraging Farmland Bird Project in Suffolk' March ringing session at Wyken Hall. Very disappointing, with just 4 birds caught for 4 hours of effort:

New (retrap)

Dunnock 2 (1)
Reed Bunting 0 (1)

There were two Long-eared Owls flying around the field margins though, which was a site first for me. At one point, one landed in the middle of a field of winter stubbles, and was soon being mobbed by 27 Skylarks!

Went home to put a couple of nets up in the garden. As usual, tits were present in good numbers:

New (retrap)

Robin 1 (0)
Marsh Tit 1 (1) - the new bird was colour-ringed for my RAS project
Coal Tit 1 (1)
Blue Tit 0 (18) - including one ringed 14/5/2011 as a nest-box pullus
Great Tit 1 (2)
Starling 1 (0) - never even seen a starling in the garden before!
Greenfinch 1 (0)

So, the Starling was the star bird of the day!

Garden ringing, and Spring is here!

A bit of garden ringing today, followed by a walk around the lakes and woods here at Wyken Hall.

On the reservoir were a pair of Egyptian Geese with 5 newly fledged chicks - the first fledglings I've seen this year. Over in Rushgreen Grove my first Chiffchaff of the season was singing - feels like spring is definitely here!

As for the birds caught in the garden, nothing exceptional:

new (retraps)

Dunnock 1 (2)
Robin 0 (1)
Blackbird 0 (1)
Song Thrush 1 (0)
Long-tailed Tit 1 (1)
Coal Tit 1 (1)
Blue Tit 1 (6)
Great Tit 1 (4)