Playing safe

One of the most essential lessons in bird ringing is for a ringer to know their limits. Looking at the forecast overnight it was clear there would be a fall of migrants in the garden and given the 2 days of rain, time of year and the temp plummeting I was expecting a biggie!

I opened few nets today, just enough to fulfill standardised and kept myself well on my toes. 97 new birds were ringed, many more could have been taken from the garden but it's simply uncontrollable to open more nets when I'm alone as the birds will not wait for help to arrive.

Spurvehøg (Sparrowhawk) 1
Tårnfalk (Kestrel) 1
Gærdesmutte (Wren) 1
Jernspurv (Dunnock) 3
Rødhals (Robin) 21
Rødstjert (Redstart) 8
Solsort (Blackbird) 1
Sivsanger (Sedge Warbler) 1
Kærsanger (Marsh Warbler) 1
Gærdesanger (Lesser Whitethroat) 9
Tornsanger (Whitethroat) 5
Havesanger (Garden Warbler) 5
Munk (Blackcap) 6
Gransanger (Chiffchaff) 5
Løvsanger (Willow Warbler) 13
Rødtoppet Fuglekonge (Firecrest) 1
Grå Fluesnapper (Spotted Flycatcher) 1
Broget Fluesnapper (Pied Flycatcher) 12
Skovspurv (Tree Sparrow) 2

The Gærdesmutte and the Rødtoppet Fugglekonge were the first for the autumn season. The Sivsanger (a juvenile bird) was the first (maybe the only) of the year!!

Hans and Bo also joined for the ringing today and it was nice to have a manageable amount of birds of many species.

Gert also arrived mid morning and put himself straight to work making wood chips, boys and their toys!

Hoping for similar numbers tomorrow as the weather looks promising!

Apologies for the lack of pictures, dropped my phone in an act of tiredness yesterday and bust the screen straight off; cracking!