As it was a day with sunshine, well at least for a few hours in the morning, we made our way to the local Country Park for a wander to look for butterflies and check what the bird community around our ringing site were doing. Alas the sunshine did not last long with the cloud steadily thickening up. We did manage during a few periods of bright sunshine to see at least seven Silver-washed Fritillaries, a few Meadow Browns, the odd Gatekeeper and a Comma. I may have seen a White Admiral but the sighting was too brief at a distance to be sure.
Walking around the ringing area, which is remnant heathland, birds were obvious by their absence, at least summer breeders, with no Whitethroats or Willow Warblers to be heard, or even young calling, and the number of Blackcaps seemed low. There was a good sized party of mixed tits going through, which if we had been ringing would have kept us busy, but I cannot say I miss extracting 30 odd Tits. We did come across a party of about 15 Crossbills, but with the whole site having surface water virtually everywhere, the potential for targeting them at a specific water hole will be low. Apart from a couple of Red Kites, it was fairly quiet birdwise.
Gatekeeper
Comma
Meadow Brown
Silver-washed Fritillary
Walking around the ringing area, which is remnant heathland, birds were obvious by their absence, at least summer breeders, with no Whitethroats or Willow Warblers to be heard, or even young calling, and the number of Blackcaps seemed low. There was a good sized party of mixed tits going through, which if we had been ringing would have kept us busy, but I cannot say I miss extracting 30 odd Tits. We did come across a party of about 15 Crossbills, but with the whole site having surface water virtually everywhere, the potential for targeting them at a specific water hole will be low. Apart from a couple of Red Kites, it was fairly quiet birdwise.
