Early December crop catches, and a Canada Goose recovery from a new location.

Tuesday 1st December had a decent forecast, so Jerry spent most of the day undertaking management work in the scrub area. He put the nets up while working, but in 4.5 hrs caught just one bird. It was however a "decent" capture, involving a Reed Bunting (going to roost), that had previously been ringed at the bird crop in January. It provided a useful exercise is assessing the (often subtle) differences in tail feather shape between adult and first year birds.

On Friday, a crop visit had to be called off, because of the poor weather forecast, so Alan J, Jerry and Peter went to our CES area to catch up with the outstanding fence repairs and bramble clearance. Sunday 6th had a better forecast, so the "regular crop team" of Alan J, Andy, Jerry, Peter and Ted tried the Llangorse Crop. It was a -1.5 C start at the Lake, but +1 C at the crop (out of the "frost hollow"), rising to a balmy +5 C by early afternoon. Apart from the low temperature, catching conditions were good, and the team were kept busy by doing more frequent net rounds, to ensure no birds became chilled. There seemed to be a few more House Sparrow (maybe 50/60) than during the last visit, but fewer finches/buntings (only c50 in total) for the majority of the day, before numbers increased considerably pre dusk. The birds were difficult to shepherd towards the nets, and the total catch was just 28 - Wren 5, Dunnock 6, Robin 1, Song Thrush 1, Blue Tit 1, House Sparrow 1, Chaffinch 1, Reed Bunting 4 and Yellowhammer 8.

On Monday, Jerry made a brief visit to net the scrub area, and also had a net at the hut feeders. The catch of 2 + (15) was almost exclusively from the feeder net. The mixed seed feeders, are being quickly emptied of their contents (by the tits who discarding those seeds they don't like), which are then eaten by a visiting squirrel. The catch comprised Wren, (1), Robin (1), Coal Tit 2 + (2), Blue Tit (6), Great Tit (4) and Chaffinch (1). The Chaffinch's legs were becoming very calloused, so the ring was removed.

On Wednesday, it looked as if it might be calm enough to try the Pennorth crop, so Andy, Jerry, Peter, plus Carlton for the first couple of hours, gave it a go. The same net locations (as per the previous two visits were tried), with an additional line of single panel nets through the middle of the crop. The Linnet flock had increased to about 300, and the next most common species was c100 Reed Bunting. Despite the Linnet flock making a number of low passes over the single panels, none were caught 
there, and the increasing wind made for an early finish. The catch of 23 + (3) was made up of Wren (1), Robin 1, Linnet 1, Chaffinch 2 (plus a bird released which was starting to show signs of Papillomatosis - see here), House Sparrow 1, Reed Bunting 16 + (2) and Yellowhammer 2. The two recaptured Reed Bunting had previously been ringed by Jerry at the jetty, in July 2020 (juvenile male) and June 2018 (adult male) - this bird was retrapped by Andy at the Jetty in July 2019. The highlight of the visit was a male Merlin which made two (unsuccessful) passes over the crop.

Canada Goose 5287844 was ringed on 30 June 2019, and was shot at Awre, Gloucestershire on 29 November 2020 - 518 days, 59 km, 107 degrees. This is a new location for us, though it is just across the Severn from Slimbridge, where we have previously had two exchanges (so well away from the general direction that most of our birds move).

A bit of overkill on the scenic crop shots, but couldn't leave many out. Wales and the Lake and its surrounds in particular is a spectacular place to go ringing!