Happy New Year

Although Jerry had done a couple of sessions coppicing/pollarding the willow scrub in our CES area, the first ringing session was on Sunday 8th January. A decent team of Carlton, Andy, Ruth, Sophie and Jerry arrived at the bird crop, just as the mist was clearing. Conditions were near perfect - calm and mainly cloudy, and the bird numbers gradually built up to about 200+, made up mainly of Yellowhammer (150+), with lesser numbers (10/15+) of each of House Sparrow, Chaffinch and Reed Bunting. A group of 5 Red-legged Partridge also ventured into the crop in the afternoon. For most of the day, the birds were flying to/from two hedges well away from the nets, but the team was able to coax them into the right location.

The team in action

They then managed three decent catches, ending the session on 64 + (6), made up of Robin (2), Dunnock 2 + (1), Blackbird 1, Blue Tit 1, Great Tit (1), Starling 1, House Sparrow 4 + (2), Chaffinch 3, Reed Bunting 3 and Yellowhammer 49.
A couple of the Yellowhammer had lost/replaced some tail feathers, which made comparisons of juvenile/adult feather shape straight forward.

Yellowhammer showing both adult and juvenile type central tail feathers

The lack of recaptured Yellowhammers (given the number we have already ringed at this site) might suggest that we may not be dealing with a "local wintering population", but with birds moving through - more catches may help to shed light on this (though a recovery would be better).