Good Start to 2012

2012 has started as 2011 left off with the two sessions at Leith Hill this week producing 62 new birds again dominated by Redpolls, but resulted in my first eight species ringed for the year.  Paul Stevenson and Martin Gray have now become regular helpers with my ringing sessions at Leith Hill whose input has been greatly appreciated.

Apart from controls I have only caught six retrap Redpolls over the last year, but these last two sessions have seen us catch eight retraps.  One of these retraps, a Common Redpoll caught today, had been originally ringed here in December 2010, which is amazing to show that this bird has migrated two seasons running from Scandinavia to the same winter location.  Along with the retraps, we also caught three control Redpolls - L032848, L771690 and Y469682!

Birds ringed:
Common Redpoll - 25
Redpoll sp. - 12
Lesser Redpoll - 7
Siskin - 7
Robin - 1
Chaffinch - 1
Goldfinch - 4
Goldcrest - 1
Redwing - 4