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Friday, 25 November 2016

Quiet Late November Sessions and Blue Tit/Blackcap Recoveries

The second half of November saw a series of low pressure systems
crossing the country, and the wind presented fewer opportunities for
mist netting.

On Saturday 19th November, overnight showers were followed by a frost,
and the fixed guy ropes were frozen. Carola and Jerry had a mid morning
start, and catching was slow at the scrub nets. The session ended on
just 6 + (6). Despite a decent number of c30/40 Siskin and Redpoll
feeding in the hut alders and bird cherry, few seem to be discovered the
nyger feeders yet, and only 2 Lesser Redpoll responded to the tapes.
The 30 or so Redwing (plus some Fieldfare) around the church/church
hedge, also failed to end up in our scrub netting area.

After a couple of days of heavy rain (the first "real" rain of the
autumn), Jerry (joined later by Andy) had a short session on 22nd.
Catching was still slow, with only 6 + (1) birds, though it included a
Blackcap, and our 100th Lesser Redpoll of the year. The Blackcap was in
good condition - 21.2gm, and fat score of 4 (40). The sheep (that had
recently been put in the church/shelter belt fields), had managed to get
into the hut area (through the hole in the fence that allows Merlin in),
and had done a decent job of clearing the vegetation, including browsing
the ivy on the shed walls to a height of about 1.2m.

On 23rd, Carlton was ringing for a couple of hours, and, as the scrub
was still quiet (just one bird caught, despite good numbers of various
species in the general area/flying over), he also put a net at the nyger
feeders. The session catch of 10 + (1) was almost exclusively made up
of Goldfinch. Despite some Siskin being seen on the feeders, the
previous day, none were caught. In the evening Alan L and Carola had a
(first) dazzling session near Llangorse village. After a couple of
hours, they had seen just one Snipe (plus loads of Rabbit), and
concluded it was a bit early for the winter visitors.

Details - Wren (1), Blackbird 1, Blackcap 1, Goldcrest 3, Blue Tit 2 +
(2), Long-tailed Tit 2 + (3), Lesser Redpoll 3, Goldfinch 9 + (1) and
Bullfinch 1 + (1).

Recent recoveries-

Blue Tit Y347918, ringed as a first year on 05/10/13 (JR) and retrapped
on 11/03/14 as a female. No further captures until she was found
(recently dead) on 05/11/16, just up the road at Treberfydd. 1127 days,
2 km, 270 degrees.

Blackcap X289575, ringed as a juvenile on 23/07/10 (PJ), and retrapped
(male) on 07/08/10. Controlled on 27/01/16 at El Pedregosa, Tarifa,
Cadiz, Spain (aged as a first year). 2014 km, 1766 km, 187 degrees.

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