Another day with the aim of targeting Meadow Pipits with a hope of possibly another Water Pipit, saw us at the site with Sam and Gavin from the RRG. The day was ideal, little or no window and a flock of 150 + Meadow Pipits on the mound, but alas they did not respond and we only had a catch of 10 birds, all Meadow Pipits, with 8 new birds and 2 re-traps, one of them interestingly a bird from September which we had assumed potentially at that time was a passage migrant as opposed to a bird having arrived for the winter, which through re-trapping has shown that it was not a migrant but a bird moving into a wintering area. The value of re-traps and controls, which provide the real data apparent from the breeding and population numbers that ringing new birds provides.
Other birds seen included 2 fly over Little Egrets, a fly over Water Pipit and a Jack Snipe which some how had avoided being flushed for a few hours in front of the nets, but as always manged to jink at the last minute over the net!
Meadow Pipit - 3, a grey cast individual
