An Interesting Day

Monday, May 21st 2012

CES 2 and another early start and yes it was very cold, as usual!  The mist nets were up for ten and a half hours and regularly checked by the licensed bird ringers. 

Interesting information was gleaned from the data.  Most birds processed were males as the females are sitting on eggs.  Later in the day a few more females were caught as they left the nest to feed. Some of the Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs have flown to and from Foxglove at least 7 times from their winter quarters in Africa.  There were also some older birds retrapped including a Marsh Tit and a Chaffinch that were both 9 years old!  165 birds were processed today which is the 2nd highest total in 20 years for CES Day 2 and these included 8 new Garden Warblers which have only recently arrived back.  11 new Blackcaps were also ringed. However it was also noticeable that Siskin, Blackbird and Reed Bunting were amongst those species absent from the nets.

Two birds rarely caught at Foxglove were caught, a Whitethroat and a Spotted Flycatcher (shown below).

By lunch time the temperature was beginning to rise a little, and the insects were on the move.  Many were feeding from the spring flowers.

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