This week has been more productive for catching birds and it is great to be back into the routine here. Getting up later now, not until 0445, a real lie in!! All week we have been able to open all the nets and have caught 419 birds birds of 29 different species, including the first Meadow Pipit and Reed Bunting of the autumn.
We have had decent numbers of Sparrowhawk moving through, heading south and late in the week we caught three, with Pelle at the southern tip catching a 4th, making this the best day ever for the species. The following day we caught a further 3. A further three Red-breasted Flycatcher were caught, a lovely little bird that is heading east into Asia for the winter. In one of the pictures below you can see the tail feather pattern of a young bird, with the feathers on the right being a dirtier white and more pointed than the three adult type feathers on the left, which are whiter and more rounded, with less wear and tear. Looking at this type of feather structure and understanding how and why feathers change is one of the various things we look at to determine the age of birds we catch.
We have continued to catch decent numbers of Blackcap, 48 this week, and although Lesser Whitethroat numbers are now decreasing we have managed to break the previous record for the number caught in one year, with 390 so far compared to the previous best of 381. At the moment most of the birds we catch are Robin and Goldcrest, the latter weighing in at anywhere between 4.2 and 6.1 grams, making it the smallest and lighest European songbird. Thousands of these lovely little things are moving out of Scandinavia at the moment heading as far as the Iberian peninsula, quite an amazing journey; one of many we are having the pleasure to witness first-hand. Though both have the yellow crest, the males crest also contains a rich orange, like the glowing embers of a wood fire (God, we're missing the home fire!!!) - see picture below.
There have been various comings and goings through the week, Maya a lass from Japan who was here last year has been again to spend some time on the island, Sonja has just arrived for a few days, Monica and Pelle have been and gone as has Ulf. In among all of this Kay found time to nip over to the mainland with Tore to go shopping and replenish the food stock, even bought chocolate which has been resisted so far - not so for the tonic water which has been put to good use, along with a dwindling supply of gin!!
Looking good for netting through the entirity of next week, so we should get plenty of birds and be well and truly knackered for next Saturday when there is the annual open-day, which last year brought in over 200 visitors!!! Hope this year we will have some birds to show them!
