Early November

Sunday 2nd had the best forecast for the start of the month, and although a bit sunny, it was dry and reasonably calm, so Jerry opted for the first scrub session of the month. His catch was a modest 12 + (4) so plenty of time for him to clear up the recent hedge cutting. The species mix was a decent variety - Robin (2), Cettis Warbler 1, Blackcap 1, Chiffchaff 1, Goldcrest (1), Blue Tit 2, Coal Tit 1, Treecreeper (1), Bullfinch 3, Siskin 1, and Lesser Redpoll 2.

Thursday 6th saw the start of Andy's WRP monitoring, with a 3 hour morning session. He had a busy couple of hours before Jeremy joined him for the final hour. The catch of 48 + (1) was dominated by "tits", with the species variety made up of Dunnock 1, Robin 1, Goldcrest 1, Coal Tit 3 + (1), Blue Tit 34, Great Tit 2, Treecreeper 1, Nuthatch 2, House Sparrow 1, and Goldfinch 2. The single recapture was surprising given the several years that Andy has been WRP monitoring in his garden. Jeremy then went straight to the scrub area, for an afternoon/roost session, which had to end just before dusk because of a heavy shower (resulting in a reduced roost catch). The total of 13 was made up of Wren 1, Redwing 5, Blackcap 2, Goldcrest 1, Blue Tit 2 and Lesser Redpoll 2, leading to a very successful day total of 61 + (1).

On Saturday 8th, Jerry was in the garden from mid morning, before Peter joined him at lunchtime and remained for the roost. As numbers caught in the garden had started to quieten down in the afternoon, a feeder net was put up for a couple of hours, which produced the bulk of the day's catch (and see below). Unfortunately the roost was disrupted by a Sparrowhawk getting caught in GN7 (causing lots of Redwing and Blackbird to start alarming). The day's total of 30 + (20) was made up of Sparrowhawk 1, Great-spotted Woodpecker 1, Wren 1, Robin 1, Redwing 1, Blackcap 1, Goldcrest (1), Coal Tit 1, Blue Tit 7 + (15), Great Tit 2 + (3), Bullfinch (1), Chaffinch 6, and Lesser Redpoll 8. The ratio of new/retrap "tits" was in sharp contrast to the numbers caught during the recent WRP session, with the higher number of recaptures being the result of previous scrub sessions.

Young Male Sparrowhawk

A wet/windy period followed which was not suitable for netting, but Thursday 13th was better (and would be the final session for the first half of the month before more wet/windy weather arrived). Jerry tried the hut feeder net again for a few hours around lunchtime and had a catch of 12 + (14), made up mainly of re-trapped "tits" - Blue Tit 7 + (11), Coal Tit 1 + (2), Great Tit 1 + (1), Chaffinch 1, and Greenfinch 2.