Two Weeks of Winter

The last two weeks has seen the only proper wintery weather so far this season with up to 8 inches of snow on the summit of Leith Hill.  With thoughts that this would increase the activity around my feeders I spent a weekend ringing in my garden followed by two regular Monday sessions at Leith Hill and my third visit to North River.

The garden weekend surprisingly only produced 38 new birds with the highlights being a Siskin (unusual here), a Coal Tit, five Goldfinch, six Greenfinch and a Collared Dove (below).

Leith Hill was much the same as recent visits with a high proportion of Redpolls, although there was a notable increase in the number of tits and Siskin caught.  Other highlights here included a new Great Spotted Woodpecker and three control Redpolls - L484304, Y703506 and L459778.

North River had its best session catching 28 birds with new birds including a Goldcrest, two Treecreeper, three Blackbird, a Song Thrush and a Redwing (below).

Three more recoveries have come through:

V965975 Lesser Redpoll - ringed as a juvenile on 28th July 2009 in Greystoke Forest, Cumbria and caught as an adult male on Leith Hill on 31st Dec 2010.

L185159 Lesser Redpoll - ringed as an adult female on 10th Nov 2011 at Queen Mary Reservoir, Surrey and caught at Leith Hill on 30th Nov 2011.

L623717 Lesser Redpoll - ringed as an adult on 27th March 2011 at Light Oaks, Staffordshire and caught at Leith Hill on 16th Nov 2011.

Birds ringed:
Blackbird - 3
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Song Thrush - 1
Redwing - 1
Treecreeper - 2
Goldcrest - 1
Wren - 1
Greenfinch - 6
Robin - 5
Coal Tit - 1
Goldfinch - 8
Blue Tit - 28
Great Tit - 5
Siskin - 18
Dunnock - 1
Redpo sp - 11
Common (Mealy) Redpoll - 38
Chaffinch - 3