A dull and overcast morning was the perfect weather for some ringing in my back garden. Mark had agreed to come over and set up the nets and see if we could catch some more Redpolls. Birds were in evidence as we erected the first four-shelf mist net between the feeders and the bushes and not long after we left it, there were several birds in it. These turned out to be three Great Tits and a Blue Tit. I was expecting another when Mark pulled out a male Siskin from the bag - he's such a kidder keeping quiet on that one!
More birds followed including some re-traps from December - nearly all birds were adults so it seems the harsh winter has ben hard on the younger population even though they've been well fed!
Several finches followed and we caught three 'new' Redpolls as well as re-trapping two others.
What followed was quite extraordinary. We'd been having several Bullfinches in the garden over winter but we managed to trap three different females in the next hour - the males were far more clever (or lucky!) and avoided the net several times.
We set up a net at the foot of the garden to see if that sheltered area down by the stream would be more successful. We quickly got a beutiful male Blackbird and four Chaffinches. However, there was a Grey Wagtail on the stream so we thought we'd wait. And worth the wait it was - a pair of Grey Wags in the net - a young male and an adult female!
We finished off around 1 after five hours in which we trapped 42 birds of 14 species including six re-traps.
More birds followed including some re-traps from December - nearly all birds were adults so it seems the harsh winter has ben hard on the younger population even though they've been well fed!
Several finches followed and we caught three 'new' Redpolls as well as re-trapping two others.What followed was quite extraordinary. We'd been having several Bullfinches in the garden over winter but we managed to trap three different females in the next hour - the males were far more clever (or lucky!) and avoided the net several times.
We set up a net at the foot of the garden to see if that sheltered area down by the stream would be more successful. We quickly got a beutiful male Blackbird and four Chaffinches. However, there was a Grey Wagtail on the stream so we thought we'd wait. And worth the wait it was - a pair of Grey Wags in the net - a young male and an adult female!
We finished off around 1 after five hours in which we trapped 42 birds of 14 species including six re-traps.
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