Hello
The wet and windy weather conditions of the winter has conspired to keep many of the county bird ringers inactive. Most birds are caught using nine foot high mist nets which are fine in dull, still weather or in areas of shelter, but are inappropriate for wild and windy conditions. The relative calm of the last few days has thus caused a flurry of ringing activity!
John Woollett and Garry Marsh were ringing at Water Stratford near Buckingham yesterday and caught and ringed over a hundred birds in an agricultural setting. In excess of fifty percent of the birds were Yellowhammers and Linnets.
This morning Chris Payne conducted some ringing in his Greens Norton garden in South Northants and he caught a selection of birds including a male Reed Bunting and ten Lesser Redpolls (six new ones and four re-traps from November/December).
Dave Francis was ringing at the Old Scaldwell Road Feeding Station at Pitsford Reservoir today and using just two nets succeeded in catching 83 birds, the majority of which were new. Again Yellowhammers were the most common species caught with 36 new birds and 7 re-traps, plus 11 Reed Buntings, 7 Tree Sparrows and more regular fare. This helps confirm that at least a hundred Yellowhammers are visiting the feed station regularly this winter.
Neil Hasdell was at the Summer Leys reserve today and saw a Great White Egret, three Little Egrets, a Stonechat, a Cetti's Warbler, a Grey Wagtail, two Peregrines and a hybrid Wigeon.
Eleanor was in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning and saw the pair of Stonechat, two Lesser Redpolls, two Grey Wagtails and a Barn Owl. A small flock of 16 Golden Plovers were at Harrington Airfield this afternoon and another flock of just 10 were near Walgrave.
Eleanor enjoyed the best bird of the day when an adult female Goshawk flew over her, heading towards Pitsford Reservoir from the direction of Walgrave village. This was at about 4pm and caused a major disturbance with the pre-roost gathering of corvids and Woodpigeons.
Regards
Neil M
The wet and windy weather conditions of the winter has conspired to keep many of the county bird ringers inactive. Most birds are caught using nine foot high mist nets which are fine in dull, still weather or in areas of shelter, but are inappropriate for wild and windy conditions. The relative calm of the last few days has thus caused a flurry of ringing activity!
John Woollett and Garry Marsh were ringing at Water Stratford near Buckingham yesterday and caught and ringed over a hundred birds in an agricultural setting. In excess of fifty percent of the birds were Yellowhammers and Linnets.
This morning Chris Payne conducted some ringing in his Greens Norton garden in South Northants and he caught a selection of birds including a male Reed Bunting and ten Lesser Redpolls (six new ones and four re-traps from November/December).
Dave Francis was ringing at the Old Scaldwell Road Feeding Station at Pitsford Reservoir today and using just two nets succeeded in catching 83 birds, the majority of which were new. Again Yellowhammers were the most common species caught with 36 new birds and 7 re-traps, plus 11 Reed Buntings, 7 Tree Sparrows and more regular fare. This helps confirm that at least a hundred Yellowhammers are visiting the feed station regularly this winter.
Neil Hasdell was at the Summer Leys reserve today and saw a Great White Egret, three Little Egrets, a Stonechat, a Cetti's Warbler, a Grey Wagtail, two Peregrines and a hybrid Wigeon.
Eleanor was in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton this morning and saw the pair of Stonechat, two Lesser Redpolls, two Grey Wagtails and a Barn Owl. A small flock of 16 Golden Plovers were at Harrington Airfield this afternoon and another flock of just 10 were near Walgrave.
Eleanor enjoyed the best bird of the day when an adult female Goshawk flew over her, heading towards Pitsford Reservoir from the direction of Walgrave village. This was at about 4pm and caused a major disturbance with the pre-roost gathering of corvids and Woodpigeons.
Regards
Neil M
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Long-tailed Tit Courtesy of Cathy Ryden. |
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| Male Reed Bunting |
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| Lesser Redpolls Courtesy of Chris Payne. |
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| Little Egret |
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| Grey Wagtail Courtesy of Neil Hasdell |
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