First Bird Crop Sessions

On 17th October, Jerry checked out the Llangorse wild bird crop, which was being used by about 20 Yellowhammer, and a handful of both Reed Bunting and House Sparrow.  
Friday 21st was forecast to be flat calm, so he and Andy thought they would give it a go, even though it was about a month earlier than last year's first visit. The numbers were similar (to 17th), but, unfortunately, only one of the "target" species was among 6the 10 birds caught - 3 Wren, 1 Robin, 3 Dunnock, 1 Great Tit, 1 Long-tailed Tit and 1 Reed Bunting.  
The barley crop was still standing upright, and it looked like the birds couldn't get into it very easily, maybe a couple of weeks weathering would improve the situation.  A high (4m) hedge on the south side of the crop, provided excellent cover, shelter and shade for the nets.  
When Andy and Jerry returned on 11th November, the hedges had been flailed, but as the adjacent field is in a different ownership, the "back half" was still 4m high.  With the front part now cut, it was possible to set the nets much closer to the hedge - even better.  Catching was steady on a cold, sunny morning (with a slight southerly breeze), as they looked down on the fog covering the Lake and surrounding area.  
After about 3 hrs they had caught 80 + (3), made up of - Blackbird 1, Robin 1, Wren 2, Dunnock 2, Blue Tit 6, Great Tit 2, Long-tailed Tit 7, Chaffinch 1, Goldfinch 1, House Sparrow 6, Reed Bunting 4 + (1) and Yellowhammer 47 + (2).  The Reed Bunting had been ringed as a juvenile, on 14th July at the jetty.  The 2x Yellowhammer were returning birds, both ringed on 5th March 2015 - one as an adult male, the other as a 1st year female