Late September Sessions

Unsettled weather limited visits during the last week of September. On Friday 23rd, Sophie-Lee and Jerry had a dawn start, and were joined later by Andy. The cows were still in the rb2 fields, so the gate to the point field was closed, and a "pipit triangle" set up. About 20 meadow Pipits were seen nearby, and a handful were caught, before they moved off to the field with the cows (where there were now 80-100 birds), and couldn't be encouraged to come back. The day catch was better than from recent visits, with 27 + (8), and included a female Sparrowhawk that carried a Blackbird into net 4a. On Sunday, Jerry returned to try for Meadow Pipits again. The cows were already moving into the point field, so the nets were set in the rb2 field (where there was more shelter from the strengthening wind). Only 5 Meadow Pipit were caught before the birds joined the cows in the point field.

Alan L and Jerry spent most of Monday afternoon (in light rain/drizzle) checking the wiring for the speakers. Water had got into the connections and tracked back along the wires, so they ended having to replace most of them. With the playback system working again, Jerry had an early start on Tuesday. Despite playing Blackcap and Goldcrest, the main species caught was Chiffchaff. Carlton took over later in the morning (as the breeze dropped, and catching conditions improved), and the day total ended on a respectable 39 + (5). His final net round produced 5 more Chiffchaff - taking the day total to 23 + (1), just one less ringed than our previous day max of 24 (also by Carlton, during a CES visit, on 04/07/2009).

Andy and Jerry had a later start on Friday(waiting for the overnight rain had passed through), catching was slow until midday, but picked up after, to end the session on 25 + (3). A handful of Blue and Great Tit were caught - who'd have thought they'd be pleased to catch them.

Species mix was - Sparrowhawk 1, Meadow Pipit 12, Dunnock 3 + (1), Robin 1 + (4), Blackbird 1, Song Thrush 2, Blackcap 7 + (1), Chiffchaff 33 + (2), Goldcrest 14 + (2), Coal Tit(1), Great Tit 4, Blue Tit 9 + (2), Long-tailed Tit 8 + (1), Nuthatch 1 and Bullfinch (2).

The September total was a reasonable 262, making the YTD 1915. The monthly catch of Blackcap was very disappointing (51) given that tapes were played on most sessions. Chiffchaff, on the other hand, were caught in good numbers (tapes only occasionally played), with 87 exceeding the annual catch for all but two years (2003 & 2004) up to 2006.