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!