Scrub taping comes to an end, and winter CES 3

Saturday 3rd was cold but reasonably calm, so Jerry put the scrub nets up for a few hours while he was working near the hut. The catch was a bit better than recent sessions there, with 10 + (6), incl 6 Redpoll and a Green Woodpecker (only the 4th we have ringed, the last one 10 years ago) - unfortunately no camera. Jerry was back on Wednesday 7th, but had a disappointing 2 + (1) in four hours - the best of which was an adult male Blackbird with very little orange on the bill (so probably of continental origin). Given the recent poor catches, this will likely be the last scrub session before our breeding season CES starts there in May next year.

The mix for the two visits was Green Woodpecker 1, Blackbird 2 + (1), Robin 1 + (2), Chiffchaff (1), Goldcrest 1 + (1), Blue Tit 1 + (2), and Lesser Redpoll 6. Although a decent 62 Lesser Redpoll were ringed this autumn, it was a relatively poor passage and only around half the number for our peak catches in 2013/14.

Between the two scrub sessions, the forecast on Monday 5th looked good for the 3rd winter CES, but Andy & Peter had a lower catch (than in the 2 earlier visits), due to the northerly breeze blowing the nets, particularly reducing House Sparrow & Greenfinch numbers. The catch of 20 + (11) was made up of Robin 2 + (1), Dunnock 1, Blue Tit 9 + (9), Great Tit 2 + (1), House Sparrow 2, Goldfinch 3, and Greenfinch 1.

Unfortunately, plans to visit the bird crop during the first week had to be abandoned, because a "team" was not available to deal with the c300 birds using the crop. The second week of December then saw a temperature drop and the start of a period of colder weather (rarely getting much above zero). So we decided to postpone any further netting until the temperature had risen a few degrees. Occasional visits to the Lake were still made, which allowed an early start to the habitat maintenance of our scrub netting area.