Late October

The second half of October was problematic for ringing, with shorter than usual sessions having to be fitted in between one weather front passing through, and the next one arriving. It started with another ten days of wind/rain (including a second named storm) preventing any ringing since our last session on 16th. But Wednesday 25th was calm and dry, so Jerry set the scrub nets for an afternoon/roost visit. Catching was generally quiet, but there were two parties of Long-tailed Tit to keep him busy and add to the day total. At about 15.00 Gn4 had caught 12 birds (all unringed), with 10 (plus a couple of Blue Tits) in the same net at about 17.30, he was expecting it to be the same group (but they were also unringed). We have not had many catches of "long-tails" during the summer/autumn - just 22 ringed in 12 sessions (max 4 plus a small number of recaptures), so had assumed they had not had a particularly good breeding season (although Peter had seen/heard a good sized flock moving down the hedge adjacent to the netting area on a couple of occasions since late August). But it was a bit of a surprise that none of today's birds had rings. The total of 22 is a new day maxima for the species, passing the previous record of 17 ringed on a CES visit by George in June 2006. We have previously caught 22 in a day on 19/05/2012, however that included 5 retraps. The 17 new birds that day equalled the day record. Redwing numbers in the general area had more or less halved from the 50+ a couple of days previously, and the roost produced a disappointing 2 Redwing and 2 Song Thrush as it was only a few days before the full moon (though shadowed by heavy cloud). The roost also produced (2) Wren (one of which was back in the net within ten minutes), not really what you need in the fading light. The day total ended on 35 + (4) made up of (2) Wren, 1 Robin, 2 Redwing, 2 Song Thrush, 1 Blackbird, 4 + (1) Blackcap (all carrying some fat reserves, with the heaviest 25.1 gm, fat score 50), 2 Goldcrest, 1 + (1) Blue Tit, and 22 Long-tailed Tit.

More unsettled conditions forecast on most days to the month's end, but on Friday 27th, Carlton managed a couple of hours (15.10-17.40), and caught just 4 + (3) - made up of 1 Redwing, (2) Blackbird, 1 Blackcap (22.6 gm, fat score 40), 1 Goldcrest, (1) Long-tailed Tit, and 1 Bullfinch. The c30 thrushes that were in the churchyard when he arrived, seemed to have gone by 16.30, but 1 Redwing came to the lure at 16.10. 1,000s of Starling went over the hut (heading towards rb2/toe), with some roosting in the reed bed close to the car park.

Saturday 28th was forecast for a dry spell from late morning to mid afternoon (between bands of rain crossing SE Wales), so Jerry thought it worth another go. Catching was still quiet with 4 + (7), made up of 1 Redwing, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Great Tit, and (7) Long-tailed Tit - (all from the 2nd group on 25th).

Another "quiet" visit on Sunday 29th, with Andy catching just 4 birds in a 4 hr morning session. Made up of 1 Redwing, (1) Bullfinch, and 2 Siskin (the first for a few weeks despite being regularly targeted with lures). But his catch included our 2,000th bird of the year - a male Siskin at 09.10. This event is a bit later than in recent years, and compares to 16 Sept (2022), 2 Sept (2021), and 17 Oct (2000).

Tuesday 31st was another day or rain and sunshine, so Jerry arrived late morning, just as a band of rain was passing through. He was soon joined by George and Ron for a slightly more productive session (than for recent days) of 11 + (3). They managed to ring for 4 hours, before the next rain band was forecast to arrive. The catch was made up of 1 + (2) Robin, (1) Blackbird, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Great Tit, and 7 Lesser Redpoll.

Although ringing during October will be remembered as being very weather affected (with catching generally slow) we still managed to ring 220 birds - only the 6th time we have exceeded 200 during October. Our YTD becomes a respectable 2012.

photo of an October Long-tailed Tit from a few years ago by JR.