Iceland - 4th - 8th March 2022

Sunday, 8 September 2019

A much quieter day.

What a difference 24 hours makes. Yesterday the hedges were alive with birds but today they were ominously silent. I struggled to find any birds in shrike hedge or Harrington Airfield. 
My only bird of interest was a Quail which I flushed whilst walking the fields below Hanging Houghton this evening.
However it would appear that the ringers had more success with locating birds. Ringing at the feeding station Pitsford Reservoir produced 93 birds made up of 81 new birds and 12 retraps. Dave Francis noted a significant fall of Chiffchaff with 21 caught and all new first year birds. 
The other interesting feature is the number of Blue Tit caught and the relatively low recapture rate. Dave reports that over 700 Blue Tit have been caught this season and so many new birds continue to be caught. 23 were caught today. 
Whilst at Linford, Milton Keynes the ringers caught 111 birds, 95 of which were new birds representing 13 species. Kenny Cramer noted that warblers dominated but that there was a notable shift in proportions. 25 Reed Warblers, 19 Blackcap, 16 Chiffchaff, 8 Sedge Warblers and a single Willow Warbler and Cettis.

Regards Eleanor

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