Tuesday 14 September 2021

Apologies to Lord Kitchener!

 

This was our second celebration of migration at Stanford Reservoir. The plan was to do some ringing every day in the last week of August, with a presence camping out each day; however in an almost exact repeat of last year, rain and wind made the first two days unproductive, so we concentrated on Tuesday through to the Bank Holiday. 

Despite it being cool and with a distinct lack of sunshine the group responded magnificently and we ringed a grand total of 1,795 birds. Highlights of the week included French Night, a Chinese Takeaway and the Sunday carvery (plus some nice birds). Those sleeping under the stars (well, in tents anyway) included Dawn, Peter, Dave, Stuart, Ewan Kate and Adam. Mick, our glorious leader came out every day, and most members of the group had the opportunity to do some ringing. Nets were concentrated in Blowers Bay, access via the railtrack, plus occasional nets at point when required. 

French Night (port and fromage courtesy of Chris Hubbard)

Full Tally of Birds

Whitethroat

494

 Blackbird

6

Blackcap

338

 Goldcrest

6

Willow Warbler

282

 Dunnock

5

Sedge Warbler

218

 Reed Bunting

5

Lesser Whitethroat

54

 Treecreeper

5

Chiffchaff

42

 Linnet

4

Garden Warbler

33

 Chaffinch

3

Robin

32

 Great Tit

3

Blue Tit

30

 Spotted Flycatcher

3

Redstart

21

 Stock Dove

3

Swallow

21

 Whinchat

2

Wren

17

 Bullfinch

1

Grasshopper Warbler

16

 Great Spotted Woodpecker

1

Long Tailed Tit

11

 Kingfisher

1

Tree Sparrow

7

 Wryneck

1

A fabulous collection of birds, and a quite splendid time was had by all. To finish the blog, here are a few pictures of some of the more unusual birds:


A perennial favourite: a spanking male redstart

One of our two Whinchat

Wryneck- always lovely

Back to normal weekend ringing, but congratulations to Adam, our esteemed secretary who has taken retirement, and so we expect to see his craggy features with the elderly midweek ringing gentlemen. Congratulations also to our new trainee Ewan too, who although new to the world of ringing was there for every day of the festival!