04/12 Bagnor Feeder

Location: Bagnor Feeder

Session: 07:45 to 11:30hrs

Notes: A cold start today, combination gate lock frozen, thawed out using warm fingers. Gate still stuck, catch frozen, released by clearing ice clogging moving parts. Fortunately, the nets went up quickly, we only missed the 08:00 hours start by about 5 minutes. Steady capture for most of the morning, mostly Blue Tits and Goldfinches. Good numbers of the latter coming to all three feeding stations this year. Just the one Great Tit is unusual, and no Coal or Marsh Tits around the feeder. One or two of all three species were calling and foraging in the nearby scrub and hedgerows.  Both Chaffinches were free of any sign of "grotty foot". Two Greenfinches are the first of this species captured here this winter.  One of our net rounds coincided with a visit from the three local Long-tailed Tits. Our presence unfortunately put them off. I often see this group along the hedgerows when topping up the feeders. A few less birds than last year’s matching visit. but a good session particularly after cold fingers warmed up.

Weather: light ground frost early, cloudy clearing to bright sunshine, cold at first, warm when the sun rose above the treeline.

Present: JL, IW
Nets: 12metres in two rides of 6M one each side of feeder. Up from 08:00 to 11:00hrs

Lure (feeder): peanuts, black sunflower, niger, fat balls

Capture (New/Recapture) 45(31/14)	Matching Visit:01-Dec-2017 51(28/23)
Species New Rtp 1stCY 2nd+CY BLUTI 17 11 21 7 CHAFF 2 2 GOLDF 8 2 5 5 GRETI 1 1 GREFI 2 1 1 NUTHA 1 1 ROBIN 1 1	Species New Rtp 1stCY 2nd+CY BLABI 1 1 BLUTI 19 14 28 5 COATI 1 1 GRSWO 2 2 GRETI 5 5 GREFI 1 1 LOTTI 2 indeterminate NUTHA 1 1

Recaptures: (14 recent except: 

BLUTI             ringed 07/01/2017, 01/12/2017(two), 02/02/2018,
                       pulli ringed 23/05/2018 box A01, two ringed 28/05/2018 box D04

Sightings 33 Species: Ian’s list., we arrived to find the field covered in pheasants, refugees from the nearby shoot. There was very little movements over, mostly corvids flying about. Three very dark "gulls" flying east, looked a bit skua-like. A Raven flew over carrying something in its bill which made it look, for a moment, like a largish dark bird with a sickle shaped bill. The  winter thrushes were again moving in a westerly direction as they have for some days now. They could be the same birds spreading out from roosts east of Newbury rather than new birds moving west each day.