April Ringing Totals

A total of 410 birds of 27 species were ringed during the month. We had a decent spring passage and with 264 birds ringed last year in April, this year has been rather productive.  

Woodpigeon	5		Robin	13
Collared Dove	1		Black Redstart	1
Sparrowhawk	1		Common Redstart	2
Blackbird	14		Wheatear	20
Song Thrush	12		Nightingale	2
Chaffinch	4		Goldcrest	5
Greenfinch	9		Firecrest	7
Goldfinch	8		Willow Warbler	47
Linnet	49		Chiffchaff	71
Blue Tit	5		Blackcap	81
Great Tit	8		Garden Warbler	4
Long-tailed Tit	1		Common Whitethroat	15
Wren	11		Lesser Whitethroat	7
Dunnock	7

Moth trapping has been decent with a grand total of 222 moths of 26 species. Lets hope for warmer weather soon.

Thursday 30th April 2015

Continuing south westerly winds throughout the day produced several new migrants in-and-around the observatory and a few nice waders. These included 1 Nightingale, 1 Brambling, 6 Common Whitethroat, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler, 13 Wheatear, 7 Yellow Wagtail, 7 Whimbrel, 11 Grey Plover, 13 Common Tern, 1 Little Tern, 8 Sand Martin, 1 House Martin, 21 Swallow and 25 Goldfinch.

On the nature reserve, out of the 20 Wheatears that have been ringed during April, most of them have been of the Greenland race which is determined through our biometric data, based on wing lengths and overall size of our birds. It's a fair old hike for them if and when they migrate to Greenland.

Ringing: 7 birds ringed during the morning which included 1 Nightingale, 1 Robin, 1 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Linnet and 1 Wheatear.

Wednesday 29th April 2015

Strong south westerly winds overnight continued throughout the morning and during the rest of the day. Spells of heavy rain early afternoon. At dawn, several migrants had dropped in overnight. Migrants included 3 Common Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Female Common Redstart, 7 Wheatear, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 6 Willow Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 4 Swallow, 11 Common Tern, 2 Whimbrel, 8 Dunlin and 3 Tufted Duck.

There's plenty of Shelduck out on the nature reserve at the moment, here's a 'parliament' of Shelduck seen today.

Ringing: 15 birds ringed this morning including 7 Willow Warbler, 2 Linnet, 2 Common Whitethroat, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Blackcap, 1 Greenfinch and 1 Dunnock.

Tuesday 28th April 2015

The overnight westerly wind and patches of cloud produced a scattering of migrants around the observatory today. Migrants included 4 Blackcap, 1 Garden Warbler, 3 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 3 Common Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Tree Pipit, 6 Common Tern, 3 Sandwich Tern, 4 Little Tern,  18 Whimbrel, 1 Little Egret, 1 Common Redstart, 11 Wheatear, 2 Swallow, 1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Barnacle Geese and 1 Sanderling (see above).

Ringing: 16 birds ringed this morning including 4 Wheatear, 4 Linnet, 3 Blackcap, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Common Whitethroat, 1 Garden Warbler and 1 Common Redstart.

Monday 27th April 2015

At dawn this morning it was evident that most of yesterday's migrants had cleared off the site and moved on elsewhere. However, there were still the odd birds scattered about.

13 Swallow, 33 Common Tern, 2 Sandwich Tern, 2 Whimbrel, 1 Rook, 2 Jay, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Male Whinchat, (see above picture), 5 Common Whitethroat, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Blackcap, 2 Yellow Wagtail and 15 Wheatear were still hanging around the observatory and nature reserve.

Very quite elsewhere and even the moth traps were rather quiet.

Ringing: 16 birds ringed during the morning including 7 Wheatear, 4 Linnet, 2 Blackcap, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch and 1 Common Whitethroat.

Sunday 26th April 2015

Overnight spells of light and heavy rain, north easterly / east north east winds produced a decent arrival of migrants in-and-around the observatory throughout the day.

Migrants included 3 Serin, (2 male & 1 female) - the largest group we've ever recorded here. 1 Tree Pipit, 12 Common Whitethroat, 4 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Lapwing, 1 Common Redstart, 1 Nightingale, 4 Chiffchaff, 12 Willow Warbler, 8 Blackcap, 2 Garden Warbler, 6 Yellow Wagtail, 2 White Wagtail, 16 Wheatear, 9 Whimbrel, 1 Little Gull, 47 Common Tern, 4 Whinchat, 1 Sand Martin and 3 Swallow.

Also, 2 Mediterranean Gulls, 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 13 Dunlin and 2 Brent Geese.

Ringing: 33 birds ringed today including 9 Willow Warbler, 7 Blackcap, 6 Common Whitethroat, 3 Song Thrush, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Garden Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Sparrowhawk and 1 Common Redstart.

Saturday 25th April 2015

Spells of light rain and heavy rain throughout the morning, with clear periods and a south south westerly wind, produced a few new migrants this morning.

A pair of Greylag Geese landed on the nature reserve early morning, not a common sight here, (see above picture).

Migrants came in the form of 11 Swallow, 5 Whimbrel, 2 Sandwich Tern and 3 Common Tern, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Black Redstart, 1 Fieldfare, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 1 Common Whitethroat, 3 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Stock Dove and 1 Cuckoo.

Ringing: 14 birds ringed during the morning including 5 Linnet, 3 Greenfinch, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Blackcap, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Wren and 1 Wheatear.