Changing Places

I missed out on Monday’s ringing when Andy caught another 32 birds up at Oakenclough - 9 more Willow Warblers, more Blackcaps, yet another Garden Warbler and one each of Siskin and Lesser Redpoll. 

We decided on a change of venue today when a post-breeding flock of mainly Linnets looked too good to miss. For a week and more the Linnets had fed a quarter of a mile away from our Project Linnet site of Gulf Lane. The birds were using a further plot of set-aside adjacent to a recently collected field of barley,  now planted for a crop of rape seed and turnip. 

The car splashed along the track where recent rains had left very large puddles. There has been an awful lot of rain lately but thankfully this morning was dry and the grey sky soon perked up.  

Down The Track

Seed Plot

We set a couple of single panel nets through the seed plot and a single net in the nearby copse.

We were quite pleased with the catch of 17 birds containing as it did the target bird of Linnet plus a couple of surprises - 9 Linnet, 2 Sedge Warbler, 2 Reed Warbler, 2 Wren, 1 Pied Wagtail and 1 Lesser Whitethroat.

Lesser Whitethroat 

One of the Reed Warblers was a female in breeding condition. The second one sported the most magnificent fault bars through the tail. This obviously came about during one of the rain and windy spells of July when food would have been difficult to find for adults feeding young. 

Reed Warbler with tail fault bar 

Sedge Warbler - juvenile/first summer

Pied Wagtail - juvenile/first summer

Linnet

Other birds observed today. 40 Linnet, 8 Pied Wagtail, 2 Corn Bunting, 20+ Swallow, Willow Warbler, 8 Curlew, 2 Cormorant. 

We pencilled in Friday for another trip to Oakenclough.  Log in tomorrow evening to see how we did.