Foreign Control Robin from Holland

Started the first official session of the Suffolk Foraging Farmland Bird Project today (the project runs from 1st November to 31st March).

A fairly quiet morning, with just 18 birds caught:

BLABI 1
ROBIN (1)
DUNNO 3
WREN 1
BLUTI 1
CHAFF (1)
GREFI 2
YELHA 7
REEBU 1

The best of this bunch were the Robin and the Chaffinch.

The Chaffinch was first ringed by me on 22.9.11, in my own garden. This means it's now joined up with the foraging flocks and has travelled to the southern limits of the farm - only 1.72km as the Fringilla flaps, but still nice to know it's going strong.

The Robin was quite a lot more exciting. I actually caught this bird on 28th October, got it's ring number (BA65008), but forgot to check to see if it was a BTO ring! Doh! It wasn't until afterwards that I realised it was probably a foreign bird. Fortunately, it came out of the net again this morning, so I could check the country of origin. It is part of the Arnhem scheme in Holland! A good record for me here, and a lesson learned as well!

Weather permitting I'm going to try the game cover strips along the Ixworth Plains part of the farm tomorrow morning. I'll then have to switch to a different part of the farm until later in the year as the shooting season is about to start here.