You never fail until you stop trying! 02/11/2013

With the distinct lack of surf on the sea we stepped outside the door to see whether the winds had calmed down and to our amazement they had. However the rain seemed to have taken over from where wind had left off and it soon dictated our plans for the rest of the day.

The post storm stillness whilst looking towards Gedser Harbour, photo by Rael Butcher

At first light showers allowed for the raptor nets to be opened and we soon caught 3 Sparrowhawks including two 2K+ males and a single 1K male.

After which the rain intensified and given that there was no visible migration underway and the rain seemingly never ending we were forced not only to close the nets but back inside until the afternoon.

With the rain finally stopping two hours short of sunset the nets were erected and 26 birds were caught and ringed and are as follows:

Wren 1

Robin 9

Blackbird 2

Blackcap 1

Chiffchaff 1

Greenfinch 7

Siskin 5

With the rain and wind not set to arrive again until early hours of the 3rd, every effort was was made to try and catch owls throughout the night. Although we knew it was a desperate attempt having just been through  west-south-westerly storms without a sniff of northerly influence we had to try!

Our efforts were not wasted though and despite not catching any of our intended targets we managed to catch a Skylark which was roosted over night in a warm/sheltered place and ringed & released first thing at dawn.

Also you can never fail to enjoy the brilliant noise of the Tengmalm's Owl tape interspersed with the calls of migrating Redwings, Song Thrushes, Skylarks and Blackbirds set against a back drop of a stair filled sky............now if that doesn't make you smile then you may as well be asleep!

Thanks as always and best wishes the GFU team