Late November

Another wet and windy long weekend before a few days of more settled weather, and better ringing conditions. On Tuesday 21st Jerry was in the scrub area, helping Jake resume his training. It was a bit breezy, but as most of the trees had lost their leaves in the recent storms, leaves falling into the nets were not too much of a problem. The catch was a modest 11 + (3), but comprised mainly "quality" species - Dunnock (1), Goldcrest 3, Blue Tit (1), Long-tailed Tit (1), Chaffinch 1, Goldfinch 1, Siskin 2, and Lesser Redpoll 4. Jerry was hoping for a better catch as Andy saw some 75+ Siskin in the nearby alders a couple of days before. The Siskin (and Lesser Redpoll) spend a lot of time in the alder woods that fringe the Lake, and sometimes venture near to our netting area (unfortunately not today).

Wednesday 22nd and Andy was doing the Winter Ringing Project 2nd visit, with Jerry acting as scribe. Ron opted to spend the morning at the ringing hut, continuing with fence-line clearance. Another not very accurate weather forecast with the wind quite a bit stronger (strength about 10 rather than 3-4) and colder (coming from the N, rather than the W). Nevertheless a busy morning with 47 + (12), made up of Great-spotted Woodpecker 2 + (1), Coal Tit 1 + (1), Blue Tit 26 + (4), Great Tit 7 + (4), Nuthatch (2), House Sparrow 6, Goldfinch 1, and Greenfinch 4. Of the recaptures, only 2 birds had been ringed in a previous winter (Great-spotted Woodpecker and Great Tit).

Friday 24th was forecast to be a tad breezy, so Jerry opted to try a second session at the hut feeders (which are relatively sheltered from N/NW winds). In three hours his catch was 14 + (15) - again a useful comparison with the winter CES visit 2 on 22nd (see above). Detail of the species mix was Goldcrest (1), Coal Tit (1), Blue Tit 1 + (6), Great Tit 2 + (4), Treecreeper (2), Chaffinch 1, Siskin 3, and Greenfinch 7 + (1).

Saturday 25th saw a drop in temperature - around zero at 10.30 (good ground frost), rising to just 4C by mid afternoon. The sunshine offset some of the chill, but it did mean that Jerry and Jake had to make more frequent net rounds, fortunately the numbers caught were easy to deal with. The total of 13 + (5) was made up of Wren 1 + (1), Robin 1 + (4), Blackbird 1, Siskin 1, Lesser Redpoll 7, and Bullfinch 2.

A couple of cold windy days before a much better Tuesday 28th saw Jeremy/Robin netting the scrub area from late morning to roost time. Jerry had 30+ Redpoll in the alders on Monday afternoon, but It was another quiet session (with few birds using our netting area), and just 8 + (9) caught, made up of Robin (1), Blackbird (1), Cettis Warbler (1), Goldcrest 1, Coal Tit (1), Blue Tit (1), Great Tit (1), Siskin 2, Lesser Redpoll 5, and Bullfinch (3).

Another cold day on Thursday 30th, with George/Jerry back in the scrub area for a late morning start, still hoping for a decent flock of Redpoll/Siskin to visit. It started well with 2 Siskin caught as the nets were going up, and another c25+ in the nearby alder trees. However, the frequent (cold weather) checks of the nets presumably kept them away from being caught. The day total was just 11 + (2), despite also trying the Pipit trap for an hour, and the species mix comprised Robin (1), Blackbird 2, Goldcrest 2 + (1), Blue Tit 1, Long-tailed Tit 3, Siskin 2 and Bullfinch 1.

The amount of ringing during the second half of the month was helped by the regularity of suitable ringing days, and during November we ringed 210 birds. This is only the 9th time we have exceeded 200 during November - all in the last 20 years and mainly as a result of ringing at the winter crop sites, making our YTD 2222.