A successful day.

Last night we hosted an "Owl event" for local people to come and see Tengmalm's Owls. It was a great success with 3 Owls shown to the group and a further 2 caught after they had left. (5 in total, including a "Controlled" bird, ringed at Falsterbo this season).

Tengmalm's Owl

Thankfully after last nights Owls, Anders saved the day and said he could take the ringing session this morning! It was a bitterly cold morning and Anders and Heidi did a great job with handling all the birds. A couple of highlights for them made up for all their efforts. A Waxwing (Silkehale) was the 1st of the season and hopefully not the last and in the last round a Firecrest (Rødtoppet Fuglekonge). Anders and Heidi left after a few great days of ringing I really hope they enjoyed it as much as we did having them here! In the evening me and Heather walked along the coast route back from Gedser and whilst blundering along with our shopping I spotted a Barnacle Goose (Bramgås) getting close to a fence. I dropped the shopping and ran for it, after a short burst (All of my energy) I had caught the Goose. It was quickly ringed and released back onto the field before dusk, a first for Gedser I think?

Ringing totals. Waxwing 1, Wren 1, Dunnock 4, Robin 8, Blackbird 6, Fieldfare 1, Song Thrush 1, Redwing 1, Chiffchaff 1, Goldcrest 1, Firecrest 1, Long-tailed tit 28 (Nordlig and Sydlig) Blue tit 7, Great tit 3, Tree Sparrow 1, Greenfinch 4, Goldfinch 1, Siskin 2, Redpoll 1, Bullfinch 1 and as mentioned above Barnacle Goose 1.

Firecrest 1cy female

Waxwing 1cy female

Tomorrow is Heather's last day and she will head home after the ringing session. It's been fantastic having an experienced pair of hands around all the time and we've been able to keep up great standards of data collection thanks to her quick extraction and scribing rates. I'll be flying solo (almost) until the end of the Season.

Blog Craig Brookes
Photo's: Craig Brookes and Heather McGinty

A Little late

I woke late this morning having slept right through all of my alarms - Quite impressive. The nets were set then and it was clear that not many birds were around. 22 birds were caught in total.

14 Robins, 4 Goldcrest, 1 Greenfinch, 1 Bullfinch, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Sparrowhawk.

Sightings again included Red Kites, Rough Legged Buzzards, Buzzards, a Kestrel, notably few Sparrowhawks, a few more Yellowhammers and Bullfinches. 2 Highlighs today include a Long-Eared Owl in the Garden and a flock of 14 Waxwings which I heard as they headed out over the sea and turned around due to bad conditions. I played the call of Waxwing and they did respond by landing in the tree directly next to the speaker but the net billowed in the wind and so the birds didn't fancy sitting in it.

Craig Brookes.