Yellow Bunts

Ian and I finally managed a ringing session at our feeding station on Rawcliffe Moss this morning. It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and no wind; perfect for mist netting. We processed 23 new birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Tree Sparrow - 3
Chaffinch - 7 (1)
Yellowhammer - 2
Reed Bunting - 1
Brambling - 1
Blue Tit - 3 (4)
Robin - 1 (1)
Starling - 3 (1)
Blackbird - 2 (1)
Great Tit - (4)

 Brambling - female

Chaffinch - female

Chaffinch - male

Great Tit

Yellowhammer - female

Yellowhammer - male

It was virtually impossible to estimate the number of birds using the feeding station, but there did look to be around 200 Tree Sparrows, and there were 8 Yellowhammers and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

One of the first birds we had this morning was a Buzzard flying along Curlew Wood and calling as it flew. It was as though it was trying to wind all the Corvids up as they were calling from the wood as it passed over them! Pink-footed Geese were moving around this morning and there was probably around a 1,000 in various flock sizes.

A Raven flew west calling, which is quite a good bird for here, and a handful of Fieldfares and Redwings were about. A single Siskin headed south and 30-40 Skylarks were in the 'Big' field.

After we had packed up we got my new whoosh net set up in preparation for some Turnstone ringing (hopefully) and with brand new bungees it was fast. I'll let you know how we get on.