Friday, October 12, 2007

Thurs 11th Oct

Went ringing to cheer myself up after a short illness. Cut it into two, am & pm. New birds ringed (retraps in brackets) were - Dunnock 4 (1 from Aug '04), Gt. Tit 5, yes, FIVE, Bullfinch (1, a male from '05), Redwing 3 (all in the morning), Blackbird 3 (1), Chaffinch 2, Robin 2, Greenfinch 2, Song Thrush 1 youngster, Blue Tit (1, an old lady from '04) and ... a young female Blackcap in the morning, and ... a young male Chiff in late afternoon; both were in a good, healthy condition. The Chiff shot into the nearest "tree" and preened away for ten minutes in the warm sunshine, watching me, watching it, etc.....
We've now ringed over 600 new birds in the park this year.

Meanwhile, on Fingers, I counted 19 Moorhen, a couple of Wigeon, 3 Dabchicks and TWO Coot. I also thought I saw a Reed Warbler on the other side (north) of "lilypads". Nothing by the Kramer hide except the Swan family and 3 Herons sitting in the "moorhen tree". In the morning, a party of 13 Siskins over plus a few Mipits and a steady trickle of Sky Larks. In the afternoon, 2 Grey Wags over, a Brambling and, later on, the 5-600 Jackdaws - although the display was not as good as the other night.