A misty Halloween

The glorious sunshine forecast turned out to be mist with the occasional light shower here in Wharfedale. Between showers we managed to ring a few birds this evening but were a little disappointed given the potential – These Fieldfare are proving tricky to catch!

8 New birds ringed – Redwing 5, Fieldfare 2, Bullfinch 1.

Fieldfare good times

I met up with Andy and Iain this evening with Redwing and Long-eared Owl the target species. The plan soon changed when hundreds of Fieldfare came into roost. To be honest, we weren’t best set up net wise to catch them but we did manage a few so Svensson came out and it was a ringing tick for me. Back there tomorrow so hopefully we’ll get a few more and the odd owl would round Halloween of nicely twoo.

Fieldfare - Ringed on 30 October 2010

23 New birds ringed – Fieldfare 7, Redwing 10, Lesser Redpoll 5, Siskin 1.

Roost ringing 3

Another fine evening and a few nets opened again for thrushes. Some Redwing around but a distinct lack of Blackbirds so far this year. We also had a quick try for owls but with no instant response we called it a night – we’ll perhaps try owls again next week once them clocks fall back.

11 New birds – Redwing 8, Goldfinch 2, Chaffinch 1.

Weather window

Predominantly the forecast for this weekend was wet and/or windy. However, we decided we’d try and take advantage of the small weather window forecast for the morning – Dave, not convinced that the weather window would happen, decided to stay out till 2:30am at a party so was a little worse for wear at 6:00am when he looked out to see perfect ringing conditions – to his credit he was still first to arrive for ringing. We managed two net rounds before the wind and rain returned.

Once again the Tawny Owl from Thursday decided to put in appearance – Natasha who’d not seen an owl in the hand before was amazed by this.

64 New birds and (6) retraps – Tawny Owl (1), Blackbird 6(1), Redwing 7, Wren 3, Goldcrest 2, Treecreeper 1, Reed Bunting 1(1), Dunnock 1(2), Blue Tit 1, Chaffinch 3, Goldfinch 31, Tree Sparrow 7, Robin 1(1).

Roost ringing 2

Compared to yesterday the weather this evening wasn’t good. We opened just a few sheltered nets that are tucked deep in the scrub. Luckily a young Tawny Owl put in an appearance and brightened up this dull evening.

Tawny Owl - Ringed on 21 October 2010

9 New birds – Tawny Owl 1, Redwing 6, Bullfinch 1, Blue Tit 1.

Roost ringing

It was a glorious evening with clear blue skies and no wind so we decided to try our hand at roost ringing in between repairing the shed roof and topping up the feeders for the winter. Redwing was the catch of the evening and it was good to see Fieldfares migrating too.

In the red

Another good morning was has by the team with 100 birds ringed down the Ings. It looks like the Redwing and Lesser Redpoll are now passing through in bigger numbers – Hopefully, we’ll manage to ring a few more thrushes mid-week as numbers build and they come home to roost.

Lesser Redpoll

100 New birds and (4) retraps – Treecreeper 1(1), Wren 2, Great Tit 4, Reed Bunting 1, Tree Sparrow 19(1), Goldfinch 49(1), Blue Tit 3, Dunnock 3, Bullfinch 1, Chaffinch 1, Robin 2, Yellow Hammer 1, Blackbird 4, Redwing 7, Song Thrush 2, Long-tailed Tit (1).

I’ve also managed to get out in Wharfedale with Andy a few nights this week and the numbers of Redwing and Lesser Redpoll there have been brilliant. We’ve ringed 31 Redwing, 27 Lesser Redpoll, 30 Goldcrest, numerous tits, a Blackbird, a Chiffchaff and two Siskin (A ringing tick for me).

A quick update

Busy at present so just a quick update on today’s ringing that included a cracking male Sparrowhawk.

147 New birds and (6) retraps – Sparrowhawk 1, Blackbird 3 (1), Wren
5, Goldcrest 7, Chiffchaff 1, Treecreeper 1, Blackcap 3 (1), Bullfinch
4, Reed Bunting 3, Chaffinch 2 Dunnock 5, Goldfinch 104 (2), Lesser
Redpoll 3, Tree Sparrow 2 Robin 1 (2), Song Thrush 1, Redwing 1.

The best of the retraps were a Blackbird first ringed on 25/10/2007 and a Robin first ringed on 07/11/2006.

Last of the summer line

Summer’s well and truly over so we were pleasantly surprised to get a break in the weather this morning that allowed for some ringing. There were the odd summer visitors such as Blackcap and Chiffchaff still about but things were a little slow as we’re still awaiting the main influx thrushes.

56 New birds and (5) retraps - Wren 1, Chiffchaff 1, Goldcrest 1, Goldfinch 33 (3), Reed Bunting 1, Dunnock 7 (1), Great Tit 3, Chaffinch 3, Blackcap 2, Robin 1, Coal Tit 1, Blue Tit 2, Long-tailed Tit (1).