Stanwell Moor GP - 3rd November 2017

The weather forecast for Saturday looked pretty dire, with persistent rain, so WA took a few hours out from work to join us at Stanwell, after all, the lab is open at the weekend and hours can be made up while it's pouring with rain.

As it turned out that was a good decision on his part since not only did we catch a few Redwings, but there was also not one but two Firecrest from the track net. These were the third and fourth of the species to be caught at the site, and in the case of today's birds audio-lures were not being played. Both were juveniles.

There were also a few Goldcrest including retrapped bird KKH010. This ring was not used at Stanwell Moor so we checked those used at Wraysbury as there has been some exchange between the two sites, but no not Wraysbury. That only left Black Park, some 10Km north as the Goldcrest flies, where the bird had been ringed on 23rd October.

Totals: 34 (10)

Meadow Pipit - 8
Robin - 0 (3)
Song Thrush - 1
Redwing - 5
Chiffchaff - 1 (1)
Goldcrest - 7 (2)
Firecrest - 2
Long-tailed Tit - 2 (2)
Blue Tit - 2
Great Tit - 1 (2)
Goldfinch - 5

Black Park Country Park - 2nd November 2017

We were on site at 6:15am in a heavy mist and put the usual four nets up in a relatively confined area. We only caught 24 birds, but that wasn't too bad since the birds all but stopped moving through at around 9:30am. We caught a few Redwing, Lesser Redpoll and Goldcrest so there can be no complaints. Nets were down by 10:45am and we were off site by 11am.

Totals: 24

Wren - 1
Redwing - 8
Goldcrest - 8
Blue Tit - 1
Great Tit - 1
Lesser Redpoll - 5

Truss's Island, Staines - 1st November 2017

The morning was spent at the usual location, helping MR to hand catch Mute Swans. MEH came along for the experience, fitting metal and darvic marks.

We started off quite well, but had a set back when someone arrived with a couple of bin liners full of bread. The swans and geese devoured it all, then were less keen to come to the bread for a while.

We stayed for around three hours, before leaving MR and MEH to continue without us.

In the time that we were there MR collected information on sixty or so individuals.

Totals: 21 (40)

Mute Swans ringed and marked with darvics - 21
Mute Swans darvic added to existing ring - 10
Mute Swan darvic read in the field - 30

Stanwell Moor GP - 30th October 2017

For the first time this autumn we were scraping ice off the windscreen before making our way to the site, but that did at least mean that the sky was clear and there was no mist or dampness. We concentrated on the mounds, hoping for mainly Redwing, Goldcrest and Meadow Pipits.

We caught some of each of the target species but the session was most notable for the total range of species. We caught the first Stonechats, not one but two, ever ringed at the site.

 3M Stonechat

4F Stonechat

 There were singles of Reed Bunting, Song Thrush, Chaffinch and Chiffchaff. Two Magpie became the second and third ringed at the site.

3F Reed Bunting

3F Chaffinch

Adult Magpie

The 17 Meadow Pipits ringed were only a small proportion of the numbers of birds seen, and small groups of Redwing were seen overhead through much of the morning with just four caught.

Amongst the Goldcrests was control JHX264.

Totals: 43 (4)

Meadow Pipit - 17
Dunnock - 2
Stonechat - 2
Song Thrush - 1
Redwing - 4
Chiffchaff - 1
Goldcrest - 7 (3)
Long-tailed Tit - 4
Great Tit - 1 (1)
Magpie - 2
Chaffinch - 1
Reed Bunting - 1