Late November at the Lake

The second half of the month saw a change to a spell of colder and wetter weather, although George managed to fit in a scrub visit on 15th before it arrived. His catch of 13 + (13) was a bit of an improvement over recent scrub sessions (the majority of the re-traps were from the feeder net). The mix was Meadow Pipit 2, Wren 1, Song Thrush 1, Blackbird 1, Robin (1), Goldcrest (1), Coal Tit (1), Blue Tit 1 + (5), Great Tit 1 + (5), Chaffinch 2, Bullfinch 1, and Lesser Redpoll 3.

The start of the following week saw some snow showers and very cold weather. It improved a bit with relatively mild conditions on Friday 22nd, so Jerry took the opportunity to put up two nets (while he was did some vegetation cutting) trying for Redpoll, but was unsuccessful and he caught just Blackbird 1, and Bulfinch 2 + (1). The next day a weekend of strong and very heavy rain (including extensive flooding and several storm warnings) began. A decent day on Tuesday 26th saw Andy and Jerry doing the WRP 2 visit at his garden feeders. It started cold but soon warmed a bit in the sunshine, they ended the 3 hour standard session with 37 + (10) - and although dominated by Blue Tits there was sufficient variety to retain interest. The mixture was Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 + (1), Dunnock 2, Blue Tit 16 + (8), Great Tit 3 + (1), Long-tailed Tit 7, House Sparrow 1, Goldfinch 1, and Greenfinch 6. A quick check of the scrub area afterwards revealed some 6" - 8" of water in our main netting area, suggesting we wouldn't be doing any scrub ringing/maintenance cutting there in the near future.

During November we ringed just 147 birds, another poor monthly total (following October), and our third lowest for November of the last decade (range 115 - 342). Our YTD becomes 1699.