Grunting at sea

Another glorious sunny, calm day produced a good arrival of birds with 72 new birds caught; this was dominated by 30+ Robins in the garden (25 ringed) including one trapped with a Belgian ring, Dunnocks unsurprisingly also figured in the totals with another 16 ringed - over 120 for the year now.   Other bits included a nice White Wagtail and a few more Goldcrests while the Treecreeper was again re-trapped but the ringed Firecrest has learnt how to avoid the nets even though it remains in the garden!

One of the many Robins

 



Other birds seen through the morning included a Black Redstart, a noisy group of 8 Cranes over the garden, 10+ Bramblings and three Buzzards.   Later tonight we are expecting another arrival, that of visiting French ringer Marie Chevalier who is staying for around ten days, I shall have to turn my music down, put some clothes on and make myself decent - although after two weeks living here on my own it might be tricky!!

After a poor showing yesterday an excellent total of 33,100 Eiders were recorded passing the tip through the day with Louis and Torben putting in a long shift; although I couldn't see most of them while ringing this morning it was so calm in the garden that I could hear the flocks grunting to each other as they flew over the sea!
   A good mix of other birds were recorded from the tip including 75 Red-breasted Mergansers, 5 Black-throated Divers, 213 Wigeon, 4 Grey Herons, 36 Teal, 8 Pintail, 17 Curlew, 36 Sanderling, 236 White-fronted Geese and 135 Common Cranes.   A few land birds were also on the move with a Marsh Harrier, a Merlin, 60 Starlings, 51 Chaffinches, 39 Skylarks and 96 Linnets.