New species for the year

On Thurs 2 Oct, Jerry spent the morning in the hut (trying to reconcile anomalies in the CES data), and while there put up some single and double panels on the point. In the hour or so before the breeze picked up, only one bird was caught, but it was a new species for the year, and our first Linnet since 2007. On Fri, he was back with the usual garden nets, for a reasonable catch of 17 + (13), which included the first "tit" flock since the spring - although numbers only just reached double figures - suggesting a poor breeding season. The five new Song Thrush may indicate that Redwing will not be too far behind, but the star bird was the first Lesser Redpoll of the autumn. The total catch comprised 3 Chiff, 2 + (1) Goldc, 3 + (2) Lotti, (3) Robin, (1) Dunno, 4 + (1) Sonth, (2) Blabi, 1 Blaca, 3 + (3) Bluti and 1 Lesre.

Plenty more Lesre to come?

64 Linnet were caught in 2007 (over a third of our 159 ringed since 1978), this was the last time conditions in the point field remained suitable late enough into the autumn. With the dry conditions so far this autumn, hopefully another bumper year is on the cards.