05/02 Snelsmore Common Feeder

Location: Snelsmore Common Feeder
Session: 05-Feb-2016 07:50 to 11:20hrs
Headlines: It was light rain when I left home but the forecast for Snelsmore/Winterbourne was for the rain stopping so I decided to give it a try. There was a light misting when I arrived at the car park that stopped a few minutes later. Something had been chewing my guys so nets took a little longer to put up. After 30 minutes and one great tit processed it was looking like a repeat of yesterdays Bagnor Feeder visit. Then some long-tailed tits arrived to feed on the fat-balls and it picked up a bit. Two siskin on the nyger feeder confirm the better outlook. One flew up vertically missing the net while the other continued feeding until we flushed it into the net at the next round. Another highlight was the treecreeper, quite scarce these days. More long-tailed tits and another siskin followed. Late in the session several adult blue tit appeared all from two winter periods ago. Most were a bit heavier than those previously captured. Unfortunately none were pulli and all had been ringed at the Snelsmore feeder so no clue of where they came from. Except, a great tit captured with them was a 2015 pulli from the Winterbourne Holt boxes. Another enjoyable session.
Weather: misty rain stopped on arrival, overcast, some brightening mid-session before the misty rain returned about 15 minutes before end of session.
Present: JL, IW, DL
Nets: 12 metres; a 6M net each side of feeders from 08:15 to 11:00hrs
Lure (feeders): Fat Balls, Nyger, Black Sunflower, Peanuts
Capture (New/Recapture) 40 (23/17):

Blue tit 9/10	Coal Tit 3/1
Great Tit 4/4	Long-tailed Tit 4/2
Siskin 2/0	Treecreeper 1/0

Recaptures: 17
Blue Tit 1y 91dx2, 1y 79dx2, 1y 63d, 323d
Great Tit 360d, 261d from Winterbourne Holt box WH07
Age Range: all 1st winter except:
Adults: Blue Tit 10, Coal Tit 1, Great Tit 1, Siskin 2
Indeterminate: Long-tailed Tit 6, Treecreeper 1

Siskin adult male (slightly out of focus)

Sightings 27 Species: Steady activity around the feeder, raptors prominent; spectacular display from a male sparrowhawk, the nyger feeder I put up last week is attracting a few siskin, the raven pair flew back and forth a couple of times.

Blackbird 3 Blue Tit 25 Buzzard 2 Carrion Crow 2 Chaffinch 7 Coal Tit 6 Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 Great Tit 12 Greenfinch 1 Jackdaw 3 Jay 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull 2 Long-tailed Tit 8 Marsh Tit 1

Nuthatch 4 Raven 2 Red Kite 1 Redwing 1 Robin 3 Rook 6 Siskin 11 Song Thrush 1 Sparrowhawk 2 Stock Dove 1 Treecreeper 1 Woodpigeon 5 Wren 1