Friday 1st March 2013

First day of the year when all the mist nets were opened for an airing - what with it being St.Davids Day, eisteddfod's, daffodils, leeks & all that malarky. 3 Blackies ringed is about what one would expect as this species has started returning to the continent in recent days. A healthy dose of retraps also caught as several of the residents here have had all winter to forget where the nets are. The only surprise was a retrap Goldcrest from last autumn as we haven't seen one since 3rd December last year. It just goes to show how secretive some birds can be (or how inept the observers are !). This is only the second time in the observatories history that a Goldcrest has successfully wintered here. Going north offshore 27 Cormorants, 16 Red-throated Divers, 2 Brents, 2 Common Scoter, Golden Plover plus a drake Goldeneye out of the river & straight out to sea. 4 Red-throats also went south.