Session: 04-Oct-2016 07:30 to
11:00hrs
Headlines: It was so foggy when
I arrived that I could just about see the enclosure from the track. While putting up
the first net I heard a Redwing call; my first of the year. I decided to put
an extra net up as I did not expect to capture that many. Was going to put up
all the usual nets but more calls from the fog suggested that a retreat to the
car might be more productive. When we decided to do the next round the fog was lifting
and as we approached the compound a flock of 20 Redwings came down out of the
murk and into the compound. We left it for about five minutes and then went
back to find two Redwings some Chiffchaffs and a Goldcrest in the nets.
Activity slowed after and the Redwings moved off. More flocks passed over low
for much of the morning but showed no further reaction to their song. For
about an hour we captured nothing and we decided to take the nets down on the
next round depending on how many captures we had. We had captured the small
flock of Long-tailed Tits and followers, 12 in total, that we had seen earlier
over on the far side of the heath. After processing these we took the nets
down at about 10:30hrs when we captured a final Chiffchaff. I had expected Chiffchaff
numbers to be falling away but this year we are still capturing reasonable
number into October. It is noticeable that unlike the captures at Thatcham
Marsh of last Sunday that were carrying a lot of fat, today’s Chiffchaffs and the
Blackcap had little or no fat. Does it show perhaps that the Greenham Birds
today were coming down because they had run out of fuel whereas the Thatcham
Birds were feeding up and nearly ready to move on.
Weather: Very foggy early
clearing, with some sunny periods alternating with overcast and murky, cool.
Present: JL, IW, RGS, DL
Nets: 64Metres in four
rides of 18M, 18M, 12M, 18M(3shelf) up from 08:00 to 10:30hrs
Lure (audio): Blackcap,
Chiffchaff, Firecrest, Goldcrest, Redwing, Yellow-browed Warbler
Capture (New/Recapture) 27(27/0) : Blackcap
1/0, Blue Tit 1/0, Chiffchaff 13/0, Goldcrest 1/0, Great Tit 1/0, Long-tailed
Tit 6/0, Redwing 2/0, Reed Bunting 1/0, Robin 1/0
Recaptures: none
Age Range: all 1st CY except
adult Great Tit 1, Redwing 1
A not to clear photo (the light was poor) of the adult Redwing. It was a long winged dark bird but I think not dark enough to be of the Icelandic race
Sightings 35 Species: The feature
today was the first Redwing flocks of the winter that began to pass over as
the fog cleared; several flocks of around twenty seen. Still a trickle of
Swallows flying southeast and the Ravens were seen in the distance southwest
of the common. Not that many Meadow Pipits about yet, they should be in double figures, and no winter finches
although one flock seen near some Redwings could have been Siskin but were a
little to far away to ID, otherwise fairly normal stuff for the time of year.
|
Blackbird 5+
Blackcap 3+
Blue Tit 3
Bullfinch 3+
Carrion Crow 3+
Chaffinch 4+
Chiffchaff 15+
Dartford Warbler 3+
Dunnock 2+
Goldcrest 3+
Goldfinch 18+
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1+
Great Tit 4+
Green Woodpecker 2+
Grey Wagtail 2+
Jackdaw 22+
Jay 3+
Kestrel 1
|
Long-tailed Tit 7+
Magpie 4+
Mallard 1+
Meadow Pipit 4+
Nuthatch 1+
Raven 2
Red Kite 2
Redwing 156
Reed Bunting 1
Robin 10+
Starling 2+
Stock Dove 2+
Stonechat 2+
Swallow 3+
Woodlark 2+
Woodpigeon 17+
Wren 3+
|
No comments:
Post a Comment