10/01 Greenham Common Feeder

Location: Greenham Common Feeder

Session: 10-Jan-2016 07:45 to 11:20hrs

Headlines: The first reasonable session here since early December. It was still quite windy though but not as much as last time we were here. The finch flock has dropped to just few regulars; indicated by many of those captured today having been ringed recently. The only bird of note is the chaffinch that didn’t have “grotty foot”. Mostly finches captured early with a steady trickle of tits through the session and including a ringed marsh tit. One redpoll had a 75mm wing length but, following a check of plumage characteristics, we could not make it into anything other than a lesser. The main car park that is open to the public was full of cars after about 10:30hrs so they began to park everywhere; we finished promptly as they began to hem us in.
Weather: Cold for a change, breezy with occasional calm, later in the calm it was pleasant in the sunny periods.
Present: JL, JHW, IW, RGS, JPM, DL
Nets: 46M in four rides including a 12M each side of the feeders and two in scrub rides up from 08:00hrs to 11:00hrs.
Lure (feeders): niger x 4, black sunflower x 2, peanut.
Capture (New/Recapture) 40 (25/15):

Blackbird 0/1	Blue Tit 8/5
Chaffinch 1/0	Coal Tit 1/1
Goldfinch 8/0	Great Tit 4/2
Lesser Redpoll 2/5	Marsh Tit 0/1
Robin 1/0

Recaptures: 15  Great Tit 1y 83d; others recent.
Age Range: all 1st winter except: adults Blue Tit 2, Goldfinch 1, Great Tit 1, Lesser Redpoll 1
Sightings 26 Species: quiet, song thrush singing at dawn and late morning; homo sapiens and canines very active.

Blackbird 4 Blue Tit 15 Buzzard 1 Carrion Crow 4 Chaffinch 5 Coal Tit 2 Cormorant 4 Dunnock 1 Goldfinch 15 Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 Great Tit 7 Green Woodpecker 2 Greenfinch 10

Jackdaw 4 Kestrel 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull 23 Lesser Redpoll 8 Magpie 3 Marsh Tit 2 Red Kite 1 Redwing 2 Robin 5 Siskin 2 Song Thrush 2 Starling 3 Woodpigeon 5