Few Moths And A Few More Pulli

I ran my moth trap last night with high expectations of a decent haul, but it wasn't to be. I even got up exceedingly early so I could process all the moths before heading off to three sites to check boxes! Three moths, three species was all I caught; a Plume Moth, Garden Carpet and a Hebrew Character.

 Garden Carpet

Thankfully we faired better with the nest boxes. To and from out nest box site in the Hodder Valley we ringed two broods of two Lapwings. At each site we got 2 out of the 3 in the brood. Sadly at the first site near Inglewhite one of the Lapwing chicks got run over and killed by a car. Ian and I came across the three chicks in the road, screeched to a halt and went to gather them up. We found two, but one had disappeared into the verge. We ringed the two chicks and then the third popped out, but before we got to it a car came round the corner and ran over it. If we hadn't been going past I think all three would have been road casualties.

In total we ringed 46 pulli at the boxes that were a mixture of Blue and Great Tits. The Pied Flycatchers aren't ready yet, but we did lift an unringed adult female off the nest and ringed her. Most of the Tree Sparrows that we ringed last week had either successfully fledged or were about to fledge. However, there were still one or two boxes still at the egg stage.