After my inglorious trip to Fleetwood yesterday I regained my sanity this morning after an uneventful but peaceful ringing session on the moss whereby the only person Will and I met during the couple of hours was George the gamekeeper. We all had a laugh together about a local chap who got married and changed his name to that of his new bride who just happens to come from a wealthy family. We all agreed that the chance would be a fine thing but that we’d rather be poor and happy, as George drove off in his ancient, creaking Daihatsu and Will and I settled down on our plastic chairs then tucked into our breakfast of lukewarm Thermos coffee with cheese & tomato and peanut butter sarnies respectively.
We took a chance on last night’s weather forecast that suggested marginal ringing speeds of 10mph and met at 6am to a clear, breathless morning. Once again visible migration was quiet with birds high overhead. Moving wagtails numbered one or two albas and 3 Grey Wagtails, with a noticeable but meagre movement of about 35 Meadow Pipits heading south. Tree Pipits featured again with at least 5 overflying birds, one or two dropping in to the netting area but today we failed to catch any.
Once again Chaffinches proved the most numerous but somewhat inconspicuous migrant as reflected in our catch. We think that many drop into the north end of the plantation before working their way through to our nets, and whilst their origins are something of a mystery at the moment, they appear to be birds of the British race with a preponderance of females. We have now caught 70 Chaffinches here in the last 30 days, a movement of Chaffinches a little earlier and stronger than expected. Here’s a picture of a Chaffinch that didn’t want to leave us.
We caught 39 birds today, 35 new of 25 Chaffinch, 2 Wren, 2 Willow Warblers, 2 male Blackcaps, 1 Dunnock, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Whitethroat and 1 Garden Warbler. We had 4 recaptures with 1 Dunnock, 2 Whitethroat both adult males with completed moult and a female Blackcap that was first captured on 22 August.
Other birds seen this morning: at least 4 Grey Partridge, 1 Kestrel, 10 Linnet, 18 Goldfinch, 5 Reed Bunting, 6 Tree Sparrow and 3 Skylark, the first for some weeks and maybe the beginning of the true autumn birds.
Here's a good quote for all ringers and patch workers: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results - Albert Einstein.
5 comments:
Me alegro de que hayas recuperado la "cordura"... como siempre una bonita serie, me gustaría saber como lo haces para tener estas lindas avecillas en las manos y que esten tan tranquilas. Un saludo
That Chaffinch that didn't want to leave you was adorable!!! Your stories always make me smile. OK, excuse my question, but what are sarnies? Is that another word for sandwiches? Sorry, just had to ask. I have never heard of a chap changing his last name for the bride, yet I guess if money makes him happy, then so shall his new last name~
Gracias por sus comentarios a mis amigos mary and Paco.
Mary. You thought right sarnie = sandwich = butty e.g bacon butty
Phil, your new banner is awesome, what a peach of a pic, just marvelous. Have a happy weekend~
Haha that Chaffinch is so cute! It just loves to be in the hands of human.
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