Six in the morning. I was wide awake as warm feet hit the cold floor. It was time to fill the Thermos, *pack baggin in the bait box and try again.
Arctic northerlies for ten days and more put the kibosh on birding and ringing. Glacial winds and single digit temperatures held a Stop Sign to migrant birds heading our way. Whole days went by with nothing on the migration score sheet but big fat zeros. The highlight of my spring so far was an unexpected Redstart and a Wheatear on April 1. Since then nowt.
Now was time to make amends and catch up - we hoped. We arranged to meet at 0730 to allow for the plantation to defrost.
On the way over the moss I again met up with a flying Barn Owl which dived into the base of a hawthorn hedge. It lifted with nothing and went on its way over the field to try again.
Barn Owl
At 0715 and despite the “late” start the dash showed -2.5° degrees as we arrived. We feared the worst. A slight north-easterly motioned the trees, stirred the nets but left the water without a ripple. After recent days things could only get better?
10th April 2021
near Oakenclough - 10th April 2021
How wrong can we be? Just five birds caught - 1 Chiffchaff, 2 Wren, 1 Robin, 1 Meadow Pipit.
Robin
Meadow Pipit
Chiffchaff
Maybe the highlight of the morning was not the few birds ringed but the “others”? An early morning Cuckoo called incessantly for five minutes or more and then went silent. April 10 is a fairly early date for a Cuckoo in these parts where the species now breeds sparingly.
After the initial burst of calls the Cuckoo probably carried on flying north, as did the three Swallows and four Siskins that we saw overhead.
Otherwise, migration was non existent. A single Willow Warbler sang for an hour or more but that too fell silent.
Linking today to Eileen's Saturday and Anni in Texas.
*put food in the lunch box
More soon. Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog.
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