More Thrushes

A female Merlin bouncing the net would have been a new ringed species for the site but we still managed to have a good morning with:

Redwing 31 (plus 2 retraps)
Fieldfare 7
Blackbird 4
Song Thrush 1
Chaffinch 1
Robin 1 retrap

Turdus curvirostra

A frosty morning at Stanford today targeting thrushes resulted in 46 new birds ringed:

Redwing 26 (plus 2 retraps)
Fieldfare 13
Blackbird 6 (plus 4 retraps)
and a Robin.

One of the retrap Blackbirds was this individual that, with its deformed bill, we never thought we would see again. It was originally ringed on 4th September whilst it was in post juvenile moult.

Thrushed off our feet

A busy week targeting thrushes resulted in a catch of 110 new birds, including 75 Redwing and 10 Fieldfare.

Unusually for us, the retrap numbers also included 3 Redwing, previously ringed by ourselves during the past few weeks.



Also reported: Red-breasted Merganser (a red head) , 12 Goosander and a drake Red-crested Pochard.

Potato, Leek, Bacon and Stilton Soup - Highly Recommended

Head Chef Lisa's Potato, Leek, Bacon and Stilton Soup sustained us on another foggy, damp morning which resulted in only 19 new and 27 retraps but edged this week's totals at Stanford to an impressive 77 new birds ringed and 121 retraps processed.

With 12 new Goldfinches, 32 Redwing and 16 new Tree Sparrows for the week bringing our annual totals for these species to record numbers of 111, 128 and 314 respectively.

Common Redpoll - 50th Species This Year

A Common Redpoll ringed at Stanford today was our first since two were ringed in 1995 and was our 50th species to be ringed this year at the site.

New Annual Record

A foggy morning resulted in 91 birds.
21 new Redwing brought this year's total to 117 - a new annual record which previously stood at 106

Another New Species For The Year

51 New birds and 21 Retraps in this morning's session included our first Cetti's Warbler for the year which was only the 6th ringed at Stanford.
Other birds today included 16 Tree Sparrows, 7 Redwing and 7 Lesser Redpolls.