All Quiet On The Western Front

On the west coast of Lancashire this morning Ian and I made a valiant attempt to ring some birds at the 'obs' but it was very quiet. At 5.30 a.m. we had full cloud cover and the SW wind was touching 10 mph, and this was nearly too windy for the site.

It was obvious from the start that very little was on the move and on 'vis' we only recorded 3 Alba Wags, 51 Meadow Pipits, 4 Linnets, Reed Bunting and 7 Siskins. Not strictly vis were 242 Knot that headed south, presumably to join other birds feeding in the Ribble estuary.

The ringing was equally as quiet as the vis and we ringed 6 birds as follows:

Goldcrest - 2
Wren - 1
Meadow Pipit - 1
Linnet - 1
Greenfinch

 Goldcrest

Back home I checked an empty moth trap and then spent the rest of the day bleary eyed working on my computer!