A quiet March, and another Canada Goose recovery

March is traditionally a quiet time for Lake visits. Andy had another couple of sessions at his Pennorth feeders on 8th & 19th -and it looked like the "tits" were moving back to their territories, so his catches were limited - just 7 + (2) & 5 + (2) respectively. The species mix was - Great-spotted Woodpecker (1), Dunnock 1, Blackbird 1, Song Thrush 1, Coal Tit (1), Blue Tit 5 + (2), Great Tit 1, Siskin 1, Chaffinch 1 and Greenfinch 1. We held our AGM between these dates, and this year the highlight was a short presentation by Peter on the work he has been doing with our recoveries. He has now entered every one of our recoveries (plus some that predate the Group's formation) into a spreadsheet, which has enabled him to map them. An immense amount of work, but the annual updates should be much quicker to do. He also went through our DemOn database, showing the site mapping, and the redesigned field sheets (to capture the new status/lure codes).

Post AGM Computer update talk

On Thursday 21st, Andy (am) and Jerry (pm) tried the hut feeders, which had been filled with mixed seed for the last couple of weeks. Catching was brisk, with a new day record set for Siskin. The catch of 36 + (11) was made up of Wren (1), Dunnock (1), Coal Tit 1, Blue Tit 1 + (5), Great Tit 1 + (2), Chaffinch 4, Goldfinch 3 and Siskin 26 + (2), including a control. On Tuesday 26th, Andy tried again (in good conditions), but the catch was much reduced, just 6 + (4), made up of Blue Tit (1), Great Tit (3), Goldfinch 1, Siskin 2, Greenfinch 2 and Reed Bunting 1.

Canada Goose 5266026 was ringed on 03 July 2011, and was found dead (not fresh) at Bodenham Lake NR, Herefordshire - 2508 days, 46 km, 59 degrees.