A Refreshing Morning

With Jim, myself, Jo and Charlie keen to discuss birds in the hand and maintain our knowledge base, and Charlie as the only trainee we had a well-paced morning with him doing the most of the ringing, the books open in front of us and some good learning points.

At 0800 it was flat calm, less than 7degC, overcast and damp as we put up the High Level net plus the two familiar 60s by Centre Lake. Although the feeders were full there were no birds around them because the terrace is being extended and the rosemary hedge has been taken out to be replaced later. We did not put up those nets. Tits were using the thick hedge along the stream by the lake. We used a sound lure on the High Level starting with Long-tailed Tit and going on to Firecrest. By 11 am the southerly wind speed was rising rapidly and we started to take down at 11.45 as bramble entanglement worsened, so had a bare 3 hours of catching using 240 ft of net.

It is not worth tabling. 16 birds, I think six from HL though only five are noted. Two lotties to the lure (one new), four blue tits, four great tits, two robins, a dunnock, two new goldfinches and a retrap firecrest. Bread-and-butter stuff but of interest to all of us and very valuable for Charlie. Evidence that at least one firecrest has over-wintered on the reserve. The robin retraps were both aged 6, one ringed as a 3 on 22/06/2017, with four lovely rosethorn outer greater coverts. We had some discussion over that one. Maybe the 2^nd edition of Jenni and Winkler (now published at around £85) will have clarified those confusing robin covert spots.

A Cetti sang on West. At the end as we listened to an overhead Med. Gull miaowing over the car park a loose flock of 14 redwings flew over. So there are still some on the Island. The usual pied wagtail was also in the car park. Also a bar-headed goose with Canadas on the Cricket Pitch and a mallard with some Indian Runner genes with others beside the carp pond.

There was evidence of previous high water. The woodland floor closest to the river on West has been washed clean of debris and much of it deposited on the public footpath just beyond the end of the boardwalk, where about 20m. of the fence on the West side of the public footpath has been loosened, lifted and collapsed to block the footpath. It looked to us as if at the height of the flood the swirl was up to a metre deep so probably it flowed in to the two west lakes for a short time.

DW 20100307