Stanstock V has now been and gone, and we are well on the road to recovery, both physically and mentally. Instead of the traditional week of non stop ringing action, we decided to extend it to two weeks because... well, why not?
Anyway, the first week was rather windswept and rainy, but we did manage some ringing on each day, based primarily on the Railtrack, plus an occasional ringing station at the Bench and trips to the Northants reedbed.
During the week we ringed 3,521 new birds, and retrapped 39, including 8 British controls plus one colour ringed Black-headed Gull spotted by Chris H. The species breakdown for new birds was as follows: Blackcap 1,811, Whitethroat 482, Reed Warbler 276, Sedge Warbler 187, Willow Warbler 166, Chiffchaff 158, Garden Warbler 101, Robin 90, Lesser Whitethroat 66, Swallow 24, Starling 24, Wren 20, Reed Bunting 17, Blue Tit 17, Stock Dove 15, Grasshopper Warbler 13, Long Tailed Tit 10, Goldcrest 10, Redstart 5, Great Tit 4, Kingfisher 3, Dunnock 3, Acredula type subspecies of Willow Warbler 2, Tree Pipit 2, Spotted Flycatcher 2, Song Thrush 2, Greenfinch 2, and single Whinchat, Water Rail, Treecreeper, Linnet, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldfinch, Cetti's Warbler, Bullfinch, and Blackbird.
The general consensus was that, despite the weather, it was a strong two weeks without quite matching the highs of the previous years. However, perhaps the standout bird was a juvenile Water Rail, which apparently wandered into the net at Box 8:
Here are some other unusual birds, which we hope the casual reader might enjoy... we certainly did!
We just about staggered on for the full two weeks, although at times this did involve a bit of huddling under Adam's gazebo, but we are all friends and as this picture shows, we were hardly likely to starve, or indeed dry out. Roll on the rest of migration!
