Monday, December 24, 2018

Mainly Men

With so much wind and rain in recent weeks there’s been little chance of getting to Gulf Lane. This is highly frustrating, even embarrassing, when a recent count realised 280+ Linnets on site compared to our miserly catch of just 30 birds for the whole of this autumn/winter. 

Monday promised better things so I met up with Andy at 0815 to a clear if cold and frosty start of Minus 2°C. We were joined today by Bryan. 

Linnets appeared soon after dawn and continued to arrive in small parties until at the peak of activity at about 10 am when we estimated 300 birds. 

Our catch was much better today with 20 Linnets. The catch included a first winter male already bearing a ring (AYD5167) but not one of our own. We hope that when details of its original ringing emerge it will prove to be another bird from Scotland, especially since its biometrics came in at 83 mm wing length and a weight of 20.3 gms. Three of the other males today had wing lengths of 86, 84, and 84 mms respectively. 

The 20 Linnets caught comprised 11 first winter males, 5 adult males, 3 first winter females and 1 adult female - so this was something of male morning. Pure chance or perhaps other factors; who’s to know? Ideas on a postcard to …… 

Below is AYD5167, a first winter male. We named him Jimmy and sent him on his way. 

Linnet AYD5167 

Today's Linnets 

The flock today appeared to be wholly Linnets apart from one or two Tree Sparrows. Otherwise we noted several thousand Pink-footed Geese leaving the nearby marsh. We saw 3 Buzzards in the vicinity of our plot but all in flight. 

I believe there’s something planned for tomorrow; someone just mentioned peeling spuds, carrots and parsnips. So that's me signing off for a few days. Hopefully back on Thursday. 



9 comments:

  1. Hello,
    Cute photo of Jimmy. Glad you had a better catch and the weather cooperated.
    Merry Christmas to you and your family. I wish you all the best in 2019, Happy New Year!

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  2. Merry Christmas time to you and Jimmy.
    All the best!

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  3. Well at least the Linnets will make the chore of peeling those veggies bearable. And it’s not so bad, Phil, you get to eat them too. We are hosting on Boxing Day so two more days until I get put to work. We have so much food in the house I think we could feed the street!

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  4. Merry Christmas - thanks for sharing your birding adventures with us thru the year!

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  5. Jimmy is very handsome! I wish him speedy travels :)

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  6. Merry Christmas to all at your house! And a happy birding new year!

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  7. Love the Linnets and hope you had a good Christmas day. All the best for 2019. Diane

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  8. Love the photograph of Jimmy.

    Hope you had a Merry Christmas. Ours was wonderful, and Father Christmas left the grand-children some lovely presents, so smiles all round :)

    All the best Jan

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