Nanjizal, Cornwall - 30th September 2025

 A chilly, misty start but the birds were still in the valley. We actually caught more than yesterday. We spent the afternoon walking at Kenidjack where there were very few birds to see. A visit to Pendeen churchyard where a Yellow-browed Warbler has been seen yielded a single call heard but no sight of the bird.

Total: 293 (23)

Blackbird - 0 (1)
Blackcap - 138 (4)
Blue Tit - 4 (3)
Cetti's Warbler - 3
Chaffinch - 2
Chiffchaff - 96 (5)
Firecrest - 18 (1)
Garden Warbler - 1
Goldcrest - 8 (4)
Great Tit - 2
Long-tailed Tit - 7
Reed Warbler - 4 (1)
Robin - 1 (3)
Sedge Warbler - 1
Song Thrush - 1
Willow Warbler - 1
Wren - 6 (1)

Nanjizal, Cornwall - 29th September 2025

Very low wind today and looking good for a better catch from the first round. We ended up on 271 new and 24 retraps of 20 species. A lot were Blackcaps with Common Redstart, Common Nightingale and Coal Tit rather less commonly captured here.

Common Nightingale age 3

3M Common Redstart

Total: 271 (24)

Blackbird - 0 (2)
Blackcap - 136 (5)
Blue Tit - 5
Cetti's Warbler - 1 (4)
Chaffinch - 5
Chiffchaff - 59 (4)
Coal Tit - 2
Dunnock - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 2
Firecrest - 21 (1)
Garden Warbler - 1
Grasshopper Warbler - 1
Goldcrest - 10
Goldfinch - 1
Common Nightingale - 1
Common Redstart - 1
Reed Warbler - 2 (1)
Robin - 20 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 1 (1)
Wren - 1 (2)

Off site 2:30pm

Nanjizal, Cornwall - 28th September 2025

 A little busier than yesterday but still not so many birds around. It was a lovely day with less wind and with sunshine, but the southerly wind of yesterday certainly is not the wind direction to bring birds. The wind has now turned north westerly and we still have little to show for it. Hoping for more birds tomorrow on a north easterly that will be rather low by the time nets are dropped tomorrow morning. Today there were 18 species.

3M Siskin

Site map, lots of nets and there are usually some that remain closed due to wind direction.

Total: 107 (26)

Blackbird - 0 (1)
Blackcap - 52 (5)
Blue Tit - 2 (1)
Cetti's Warbler - 1 (2)
Chaffinch - 2
Chiffchaff - 17 (6)
Dunnock - 2 (2)
Firecrest - 7 (1)
Grasshopper Warbler - 1
Goldcrest - 2
Great Tit - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 0 (1)
Reed Warbler - 6 (1)
Robin - 7 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 0 (1)
Siskin - 3
Song Thrush - 1 (1)
Wren - 3 (2)

Nanjizal, Cornwall - 27th September 2025

 The weather forecast wasn't good for today with rain expected in the late morning. It was also rather windy, with winds coming from the south. There were a few wind effected nets that were not opened, but those that were in use had only a few birds on the first round with not many more on the second. There was quite a high proportion of Firecrests, more in fact than the previous day when there were  over 150 birds all told.

The rain was setting in earlier than expected and all nets were closed soon after 10am.

Totals: 28 (11)

Blackcap - 8 (2)
Cetti's Warbler - 2
Chaffinch - 0 (2)
Chiffchaff - 6 (5)
Firecrest - 7 (1)
Garden Warbler - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Great Tit - 0 (1)
Long-tailed Tit - 1
Reed Warbler - 2

Nanjizal, Cornwall - 26th September 2025

 We were expecting to start on Saturday, but were asked to get to the site as soon as we could, from our hotel in Camborne as there was only one ringer on site for the Friday. We arrived shortly before 8am and began ringing straight away. We haven't needed to pick up the pace for quite some time, with catches usually around the 30-40 mark in Norfolk, but we managed with no problem. We even remembered parts of the site, and on recalling the drops under some of the boarding, decided to avoid working there in the dark and opted for a later start time.

The total for the day was 145 new birds with 10 retraps. Leading species Blackcap with 72.

Firecrest

Total: 145 (10)

Blackbird - 1
Blackcap - 72 (4)
Blue Tit - 1
Chaffinch - 2
Chiffchaff - 41 (3)
Dunnock - 1 (1)
Firecrest - 5
Garden Warbler - 2
Goldcrest - 1
Grasshopper Warbler - 2
Great Tit - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 4 (1)
Reed Warbler - 1
Robin - 5
Sedge Warbler - 1
Song Thrush - 1
Willow Warbler - 1
Wren - 3

After we'd closed we went for lunch at the Land's End Airport cafe and also managed to see the Isabelline Wheatear that has been staying around the runway. This was the second vagrant of our spell in Cornwall, having seen the very obliging Grey Phalarope at St. Gothians Sands LNR yesterday.

Morston - 20th September 2025

 After a spell of windy weather we took a chance on Morston this morning. We were expecting the gusts to pick up quite quickly, but the presence of a sea fret also seemed to influence the coastal wind flow and nets were more wind affected than we would have hoped from early on.

Meadow Pipit

We caught our first Meadow Pipits of the autumn. Dunnocks were moving through again, as were Stonechats, although whether they were heading south or on an extended feeding circuit is as yet unclear. Stonechats seem to peak in numbers at around 10am, then drop off again. We have darvic marked 10 at Morston this year and none have been seen or recaught so far.

3F Stonechat

The catch consisted of 11 species including departing summer migrants Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and a Whitethroat with fat score 3, indicating it is preparing for a relatively lengthy flight, rather than a short hop along the coast.

Juvenile Whitethroat with fat score of 3, weight 18g.

For most of the morning there was a sustained movement westwards of Swallows.

Totals: 33 (2)

Blackcap - 6
Blue Tit - 5
Cetti's Warbler - 0 (1)
Chiffchaff - 4
Dunnock - 4
Linnet - 1
Meadow Pipit - 5
Reed Bunting - 3
Robin - 1 (1)
Stonechat - 3
Whitethroat - 1

Scolt Head, Norfolk - Update on birds ringed 25th June 2025

 A few more reports of our Mediterranean Gulls and Sandwich Terns.

We didn't have very many local sightings of Med Gulls after fledging. However a couple of birds turned up separately at Beacon Ponds, Kilnsea. There were also 3 individual one day only sightings of birds that passed through Boultham Mere, Lincolnshire, so apparently it's not unusual for them to head off inland. There were a couple of birds reported separately from Red Nab, Heysham on the west coast so perhaps taking into account other records they made a cross country movement. Today a further recovery (bird found dead) at Laytown Beach, Eire.

There have been a lot of Sandwich Tern sightings with birds heading north and south. Most recently there have been sightings from Dawlish Warren. There are certainly sites were a few of our birds get seen, although they are not usually with other marked birds from our project.

Furthest report to date, from Kartong, Gambia - KJ3 has already made it to Africa.

KJ3 recorded at Beacon Ponds, Kilnsea 12/07/2025