Tails from Sweden

This morning the ringing was exceptionally quiet, the wind ripped through but I managed to get enough nets up to fulfill standardised ringing. Only 7 Birds were newly ringed today. 2 Blackbird, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Bullfinch, 1 Blackcap, 1 Robin, 1 Long-tailed tit. Interestingly the Bullfinch seemed of the "Northern" variety but then started trumpeting whilst in the hand. It measured large too, wing 92mm and weight 29.6 grams. I now suspect it was from the East?

Another interesting thing today is that we controlled 5 Long-tailed tit from Sweden (in 1 net) each had consecutive ring numbers. CS80031-35. I suspected these were from Falsterbo, but it seems not. It will be interesting to find out when and where they were ringed and so we can see how fast these birds are migrating, that is one of the great things about marking and re-capture in bird ringing.

Long-tailed tits

The photo above shows 2 races of Long-tailed tit, plus a hybrid type; not today's photo. Observation wise it was quiet with a single Waxwing over the garden and Ca 1000 Fieldfare and some Redwing mixed in!

Photo and Blog: Craig Brookes