Staines Moor - 3rd March 2021

Our first outing of the year here with a forecast of beautifully low wind. We know not to expect too much from this high effort, low yield site. We have to carry all equipment on to the moor and after flooding it is often very difficult going under foot. For all this effort there is little to disguise or shelter nets and catching is not easy.

On arrival today we could see that the Stonechats had moved off. There were however a few Meadow Pipits and at least 6 Water Pipits. We were using three panel nets and put up two doubles and a single. Chris went off to check for swans and I gave it 20 minutes then walked the site in the hope of flushing a pipit into a net. This is necessary as the birds are clearly aware of the nets and rarely fly into them without help. I was pleased to flush a bird into one of the doubles, surprised that it stayed there until I could get there to extract it and doubly surprised to see that it was a Water Pipit.

The swans were nowhere to be seen.

A couple of Meadow Pipits provided an added bonus as the morning progressed although a flock of some 30 Pied Wagtails deftly evaded the nets. The addition of the Wagtails foraging around the flash seemed to affect the usually extremely cautious behaviour of two of the pipits and although the chasing birds both hit the single, only one was caught and another Water Pipit was marked under the scheme.

Total: 4

Meadow Pipit - 2

Water Pipit - 2