17th and 18th February 2010 - Home, Warnham and Southwater

On the 17th I put a net up briefly in my garden for a couple of hours and caught new 11 birds which included another two Coal Tits. This was the 12th and 13th Coal Tits ringed this year already which is just under half that were ringed during all of 2009 (28).

Whilst today, the day began with me and Jake setting up the nets at Warnham LNR, but with less than ideal conditions the ringing didn't last very long with just 14 new birds ringed with highlights being a Song Thrush (below) and a Redpoll. This Redpoll was one of five that were feeding on the niger feeder in the feeding station, being the first time that this species has been seen on feeders at this site!
The notable retraps came in the form of a Great Tit and a Blue Tit ringed in 2006 and the first two retraps of any of the 55 Great Tit nestlings ringed in 2009.

A late afternoon visit to Southwater CP meant another attempt at the roost, but Jake had also set up a new ride last week nearby with just a single niger feeder hoping to attract the small finches around the park. On arrival the niger feeder was buzzing with about 30 Redpoll, a number of Chaffinches, a few Goldfinches and amazingly a Linnet that was tucking into the seed directly from the feeder! I have only ever seen Linnets on a feeder once before! Unfortunately, as soon as we put up the nets, they didn't come back and we only managed to catch four new birds, these included two Chaffinches and a Goldcrest which were both new ringing species for this site.
Birds ringed:
Dunno - 1
Blue Tit - 9
Coal Tit - 2
Great Tit - 5
Redpoll - 1
Chaffinch - 2
Long-tailed Tit - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Greenfinch - 4
Blackbird - 2
Song Thrush - 1