It was a fairly calm day so we tried Chobham Common, at an area close to where we used to ring that had been burnt out. We had two doubles up, but of the three target species only Goldcrest worked. The tall trees that remained close by drew the few Redwings that came in, only a few got anywhere near the nets. But, the Redpoll numbers were very low, whether this is due to the loss of a big area of silver birches in the late summer fire is not entirely clear. Subsequently the catch was not high and when the news of a Masked Shrike in Kent came through, only 90 miles, and around 90 minutes away we decided to pack up and head off to see the bird on the first day. Not something we do often, but we were clearly not going to provide much data from the few birds coming in.
Totals: 14
Goldcrest - 10
Coal Tit - 3
Lesser Redpoll - 1