Sunday 3 February 2013

Gallinule delight


The weekend started well with a cracking ringing session on Saturday morning. With the threat of wintery weather we decided to only open a few nets. This proved to be a wise move as although we got no dodgy weather, we did get loads of birds. We were only expecting a few birds but, probably as a result of not being out for a few weeks, there were tons about. In 3 hours we managed to process 91 birds including 31 new. Highlights came in the form of a female brambling, 1st winter redwing, several goldfinch and a load of tits!!

Back in the garden there were still loads of bramblings, 2 lesser redpoll and 3 siskin on the feeders so the plan was to get up early and see what I could catch. Sadly the weather took centre stage and it was again too windy to bother opening any nets.

Out onto the patch then in search of shelter instead but sadly the lack of leaves means that there isn’t really any shelter yet and the small birds were obvious by their absence. Since the snow and the rain the marshy area has been getting wetter and I have been checking it regularly in the hope of flushing a snipe. I was walking along the road next to the marsh when I heard a familiar call….moorhen! Patch tick and to be honest, not something I was expecting but I will take whatever is on offer this early in the year. The rest of the walk was uneventful with the highlight being a flock of 115 fieldfare on the common. Patch yearlist now stands at a respectable 56 species

Hopefully the weather will be calmer by the weekend and I get the chance to catch some bramblings before they move off, fingers crossed….

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