Baby

Overcast with a brisk SE breeze, so not too bad ringing conditions but it was unfortunately pretty quiet; I managed to catch 20 new birds including 3 Redstarts, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, 2 Blackcaps, 4 Willow Warblers and a Goldfinch - the first one to be caught since March.

The first fledgling Blackbird (solsort) bumbled into a net this morning

Goldfinch (stillits)

A late Fieldfare flew over the garden where there was also a singing Tree Pipit (which confused me for a short while as it was singing from inside a bush!); 2 Arctic Skuas flew east at sea along with 8 Little Terns.

Agile Frog Rana dalmatina (springfrø) - a new species for me (they are not found in the UK), photographed at Falster Golf Club this afternoon where the boys, Hans, Benny and Gert have an excellent nest box scheme running with boxes scattered right across the course

Are you sure you're a Willow Warbler?

Very calm and overcast with the gentle caress of the breeze coming from the west gave excellent ringing conditions through the morning; it wasn't as profitable as previous days however with 44 new birds caught encompassing the usual spread of migrants with a Garden Warbler, 2 Whitethroats, 11 Lesser Whitethroats, 14 Willow Warblers, a Redstart, 4 Blackcaps and 4 Chiffchaffs in the total.

Garden Warbler and Redstart

 

A few Barnacle Geese on the move through the morning and 3 Whimbrel at Kroghage in the afternoon was all I could come up with to supplement the blog today I'm afraid!

This interesting Willow Warbler was among those caught today; it appears to have just undergone a winter partial moult rather than the normal complete moult with un-moulted tertials, greater coverts and median coverts with a mix of old and new lesser coverts.  Both wings were the same. 

At least we didn't finish bottom of the league

A different day again with patchy cloud scudding across the sky, pushed by a brisk NW wind which had moved round to the SW by the end of the day; there were plenty of birds in the garden through the morning with 68 new birds caught.   Most noteworthy in this total were 17 Redstarts along with 31 Willow Warblers, 4 Blackcaps, 5 Chiffchaffs, 2 Lesser Whitethroats and a Black Redstart - the first to be caught for several weeks.

Black Redstart

 

There was a different feel to the birds caught today as there wasn't really a dawn rush that we've been used to of late, it was steady throughout the session and the majority of the birds had much higher fat scores than the last few weeks indicating that perhaps they hadn't travelled as far to get here as previous days; or simply coming with the wind rather than fighting into it when it was in the east over the last weeks.

   Today the majority of Willow Warblers weighed 10.5 - 12.0g and had fat scores of 3 - 6 as opposed to say 27th April when they weighed 8.8 - 10.5g and had fat scores of 1 -3 and the wind was briskly north-easterly.

 

There was a good concentration of migrants around Birkemose just to the north in the afternoon including at least 9 Whinchats, 2 Wheatears, 7 Redstarts, 3 Pied Flycatchers, a few Willow Warblers and a Black Redstart; odd birds were scattered all over the area as well so there was obviously a decent arrival of birds in the greater area.

 

Louis had some good quality out at the tip today as well (not that I saw any of it!) including a Black Stork which seemed to go down somewhere just to the north but was not relocated, a Montagu's Harrier which also rested briefly, a Black Kite, 600 Eiders, 10,500 Barnacle Geese, 2 White-tailed Eagles, the first Common Swift of the spring, 2 Cranes and a sprinkling of Redstarts and Whinchats.

 

 

 



Females

Still and clear conditions overnight left a good covering of frost across the station first thing but this gave us a return to the beautiful, sunny, calm days that we enjoyed before yesterday's blip; it was also a return to the ringing numbers of a few days ago with a busy rush of action just after dawn before rapidly diminishing returns produced a quiet rest of the day.   Ringing totals this morning included 22 Lesser Whitethroats, 14 Willow Warblers, 5 Blackcaps, 2 Redstarts and a Pied Flycatcher, mostly in the busy first hour.

Redstart and Pied Flycatcher

 

A Corn Bunting was singing from the front field in the morning, a Sparrowhawk flashed through the garden and 3 Black-throated Divers flew east - that was the best I could come up with through the rest of the day!

Record shot of the first Dragonfly of the year - possibly a Hairy Dragonfly Brachytron pratense I think but that's just a guess really, can anyone tell me?

Jynxed

A completely different kind of day to the tropical like conditions of the past couple of days, as it was overcast and it had returned to the brisk, cold NE wind of last week, it wasn't too bad though and with a change of any kind birds often follow (that's what I told myself anyway!).   Managed to open the vast majority of the nets but there was nothing to be seen or caught anywhere, in over seven hours of netting I caught 4 Linnets, a Dunnock, a Chaffinch and on the very last round.....a gorgeous Wryneck!
   I was at a loss to explain why there was so little with the good turnover of birds over the last week I would have thought there would be a few migrants around but ours is not to reason why!

Awesome!

 

The general paucity of birds unfortunately coincided with a large tour group led by Hans, Benny and Gert, I had managed to show them some re-trap Robins and Dunnocks in the hand but they were literally just stepping out of the door to head off when I came round the corner with the brilliant Jynx - a great end to the tour!

 

I was told that when this group came to visit last autumn it was again a quiet day and they only saw one bird in the hand during their trip - I sensed a pattern!

Benny and Hans talking the talk

My 'I'm at a loss to explain why there are no birds' selfie!

Iberian Royalty

Another fine day although this time with occasional patches of cloud which passed over with the strengthening wind which was in the west first thing but gradually moved back round to the NE; it was another steady morning of ringing with 58 new birds caught with a similar mix of migrants including 13 Lesser Whitethroats, 2 Whitethroats, 7 Redstarts, 18 Willow Warblers, 2 Blackcaps and a Tree Pipit - a good turnover of birds for the last few days, long may it continue!   Also of note was a Great Tit originally ringed in 2010.

Whitethroat

 

A Black Kite was on the outskirts of town early in the morning while here at the station 2 Serins were seen with one spending some time just outside the front door but failing to find a net, 3 Whimbrel flew west, 6 Herons flew south and 290 Barnacle Geese flew east (not all at the same time!).

 

There was little in the way of migrants at Kroghage in the afternoon with a single Redstart the highlight but the place was full of singing warblers with Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs all in full voice - a great walk in the afternoon sunshine!

Queen of Spain Fritillary at Kroghage