Almost Half A Century

Yesterday morning Huw and I were ringing at the Obs and conditions looked perfect for some vis and we hoped we would be able to tape lure some Meadow Pipits down for ringing. At first light we had 1 okta cloud cover and it was calm. It would remain clear all morning but the wind picked up to a 5 mph northerly later.

As I have already mentioned the conditions looked perfect for some vis and there was quite a bit of passage. The usual caveat to the following totals applies in terms of operating mist nets and keeping eyes and ears skywards; it's inevitable that a good deal of birds were missed. Our vis totals included 527 Meadow Pipits, a Goldfinch, five Chaffinches, five Alba Wagtails, a Reed Bunting, eleven Swallows, 819 Pink-footed Geese (my first major arrival; smaller numbers have been filtering through for about a week), 19 Skylarks, two Sparrowhawks, a Greenfinch and a Rock Pipit (my first on vis for the autumn).

 Greenfinch

 Pink-footed Geese

We ringed 45 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Robin - 3
Meadow Pipit - 26 (all small birds suggesting mainly British origin)
Blue Tit - 4
Great Tit - 1
Chaffinch - 1
Wren - 2 (1)
Greenfinch - 5
Woodpigeon - 1
Dunnock - 1
Blackbird - 1

 Robin

 Woodpigeon

There wasn't any evidence of grounded birds at all and the overnight weather conditions would have suggested that it was a 'clear-out' night rather than an arrival night. Fingers crossed for a few more days like this throughout the remainder of autumn!