Another windy day when we expected only to be able to use three more sheltered rides. As it turned out the gusts were a little below what had been shown in the forecast and it was possible to get an extra two nets up, albeit in slightly too exposed positions that meant they were already being taken down by 10am as the blow freshened.
It made a real change, from the sessions of the last few weeks, to see birds moving about the site in numbers as the sun rose above the treeline and by the time we'd finished there were 82 captures. Blackcap was the leading species, 35 new and 4 retraps, a long stretch ahead of Whitethroat, 9 new and 2 retraps and Goldfinch, 9 new the next most frequently processed species. We really should have settled for 81 by 10:20am but the extra 50 minutes as we slowly brought in the last three nets did bring a single extra bird, the one and only Lesser Whitethroat of the day.
Total: 74 (8)
Robin - 1
Dunnock - 4 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 1
Whitethroat - 9 (2)
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Garden Warbler - 4
Blackcap - 35 (4)
Chiffchaff - 7
Willow Warbler - 1
Blue Tit - 1
Great Tit - 1
Goldfinch -9