A record October, and another Canada Goose recovery

On Saturday 29th, Andy and Jerry had a couple of hours at the Pennorth feeders, and caught 23 + (5).  A mix of Chaffinch, Goldfinch and House Sparrows made up about half of the catch.  At lunchtime, Jerry opened up the garden nets (ready for George's arrival), and the first round produced 4 Lesser Redpoll, catching then became quiet.  At about 13.30 small groups of Redwing began to fly over (about 150/200 in total).  Lots of them started to settle in the taller trees, and a quick switch of playback encouraged some to drop into the scrub, but only one was caught. Later in the afternoon, while changing playback calls, George mistakenly put on Reed Bunting (and promptly attracted four), but the roost produced just one more Redwing.  The afternoon session ended with 13 + (2).  On Sunday, Jerry had another good first round, before it was quiet again, and he finished on 13 + (1) - including 9 Lesser Redpoll.

On Monday, Ruth and Jerry did the final session for the month, the calm misty conditions remained at the Lake, until they finished mid afternoon, though there was bright sunshine at Bwlch.  Catching was slow (and a variety of tapes were tried), with only one Lesser Redpoll (a very smart adult male on the final net round).  The bulk of the catch was made up of a new "family group" of Long-tailed Tit, but also included three new Robin, a Chiffchaff and a (retrap) Blackcap.  The session ended on 17 + (3).

Details foo the three days - Great-spotted Woodpecker 1, Wren 1 + (1), Dunnock 1, Robin 3 +(1), Redwing 5, Song Thrush 1, Blackcap (1),  Chiffchaff 1, Goldcrest 1, Blue Tit 6 + (3), Coal Tit 1, Great Tit 5 + (2), Long-tailed Tit 7 + (2), Nuthatch (1), House Sparrow 3, Chaffinch 5, Lesser Redpoll 17, Goldfinch 3, Bullfinch 1 and Reed Bunting 4.

A total of 303 birds were ringed in October (our highest for the month, and just ahead of the 296 in 2015), and the YTD becomes 2218.  Given the number of visits (19), we might have expected more birds, but catches continue to reflect the poor breeding season.  Despite the relatively low average numbers per visit, the Yellow-browed Warblers would probably not have been caught without the coverage we achieved, given that they didn't seem to hang around after ringing.  Hopefully someone else will catch them further south/west.

Canada Goose 5275703 was ringed on 28 June 2015, and was shot on 22 October 2016 at Ogmore by Sea, Vale of Glamorgan.  482 days, 58 km, 206 degrees.