Catch Up

Apologies for the lack of blogs this week which has been as a result of lack of birds and problematic laptop !! 
It has been a quiet week for me. Plenty of passerines in the fields and hedgerows below Hanging Houghton which in turn have attracted a male Merlin and female Peregrine.  Most days I have seen a pair of Stonechat, several Brambling, 4 Grey Partridge and a Barn Owl.  I have also flushed a couple of Woodcock as I have walked the field hedges.
Harrington Airfield has been very quiet with highlights being 2 Grey Partridge, few Brambling and 15 Golden Plover.

Over the past couple of days there has been some ringing activity.  At Pitsford reservoir Dave Francis had an overall catch of 91 birds of 14 species.  There were 59 new birds and 32 retraps, the most interesting of which was a Great Tit originally ringed at the feeding station in 2014.
John Woollett was busy at Stortons where 43 birds were caught. 24 were new and 19 retraps.  Here too a retrap bird had been ringed in 2014, this time it was a Reed Bunting.
Chris Payne did some ringing in his garden in Greens Norton and this produced just under 40 birds including a stunning male Sparrowhawk and 2 Nuthatches.[ pics below]

Regards Eleanor