After a few hurried phone calls it was a last minute decision to try a bit of ringing in Will’s garden near Garstang. “Stay in second gear over the hill” said Will, “Four cars went off the road and through the fence yesterday”. With some trepidation I reached then negotiated the said spot where a blue Police “Accident Here” sign stood and a team of chaps and gritting wagons worked belatedly to provide grip for passing vehicles.
When I reached Will’s place to a rising, bright, warming sunshine and a welcoming hot coffee it seemed like a good decision to try a couple of nets in a small part of the garden for an hour or two.
View from Will's garden
We caught steadily for a couple of hours helped by bacon butties and more coffee until a slightly strengthening breeze, sudden cold and numbing fingers about 1430 brought an end to our session.
Chaffinch
Greenfinch
Greenfinch
Brambling
Brambling
Jay
Goldfinch
Birds caught totalled 40 new and 1 retrap.
Chaffinch 16
Dunnock 1
Great Tit 8
Robin 4
Blue Tit 5
Goldfinch 2
Greenfinch 1
Blackbird 2
Jay 1
Brambling 1
We caught a very fat adult male Blackbird; in fact when I took it out of the net I remarked on its bulging fat reserves and that in my hand it felt more like a Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush or Collared Dove. When we weighed the Blackbird the Pesola balance hit 149 grams! Later IPMR told me it was 9 grams over the maximum expected weight for an adult Blackbird. The second Blackbird we caught was a more normal 96 grams, but when we later weighed the Jay we caught, it too was 149 grams, equal to the weight of supersize Blackbird.
Other birds seen this morning included a couple of Sparrowhawks, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Nuthatch, several House Sparrow, 3 Redwing, 2 Fieldfare and 3 Collared Dove.
Collared Dove
Fieldfare
When I reached Will’s place to a rising, bright, warming sunshine and a welcoming hot coffee it seemed like a good decision to try a couple of nets in a small part of the garden for an hour or two.
We caught steadily for a couple of hours helped by bacon butties and more coffee until a slightly strengthening breeze, sudden cold and numbing fingers about 1430 brought an end to our session.
Birds caught totalled 40 new and 1 retrap.
Chaffinch 16
Dunnock 1
Great Tit 8
Robin 4
Blue Tit 5
Goldfinch 2
Greenfinch 1
Blackbird 2
Jay 1
Brambling 1
We caught a very fat adult male Blackbird; in fact when I took it out of the net I remarked on its bulging fat reserves and that in my hand it felt more like a Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush or Collared Dove. When we weighed the Blackbird the Pesola balance hit 149 grams! Later IPMR told me it was 9 grams over the maximum expected weight for an adult Blackbird. The second Blackbird we caught was a more normal 96 grams, but when we later weighed the Jay we caught, it too was 149 grams, equal to the weight of supersize Blackbird.
Other birds seen this morning included a couple of Sparrowhawks, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Nuthatch, several House Sparrow, 3 Redwing, 2 Fieldfare and 3 Collared Dove.
5 comments:
Gorgeous photos again! I'm hoping to see a Brambling this year - never seen one so its my mission!!
Dear Phil, greetings: do not know how many healthy envy gives me see the Fieldfare is a species that fascinates me even here in southern Spain there is not, well very few.
Congratulations, those pictures are worth a good post
King regards, Fernando
Fieldfare in the header is a great shot as always Phil.
And the closeup of the Goldfinch is great, such a beautiful bird!
Forest
Hi Phil. Interesting to hear about the overweight captures. Is this just atrend due to the weather conditions, apart from migrants preparing to leave our shores?
Frank, I think the Sumo Blackbird was a one off with a resident Blackbird filling up "just in case" and to stave off the effect of the extreme temperatures. That bird is still strutting around, seeing off other competitors for the food on offer. Thanks for looking in my blog. Cheers.
Post a Comment