Twos and Threes

It was back to the reedbed for Ian and I this morning and it was a glorious morning with clear skies and absolutely no wind. Some cloud came in later in the morning which helps to take any glare off the nets from the sun. We didn't ring as many birds as last Sunday but nevertheless it was worth the early start.

Interestingly nearly every species we ringed this morning seemed to be in 2s and 3s, and we ringed 22 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Reed Warbler - 2 (1)
Blackcap - 3
Reed Bunting - 2
Sedge Warbler - 3
Willow Warbler - 2 (2)
Wren - 3
Chiffchaff - 2
Goldfinch - 1
Blue Tit - 1 (1)
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Whitethroat - 1
Dunnock - 1
Blackbird - (1)

 Reed Bunting

From a birding perspective we didn't have a great deal other than a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Kestrel, 25 Coots, two Little Grebes and a Great Crested Grebe.

Back home I had a nice selection in my moth trap consisting of thirty moths of fourteen species, and these were just the ones I could identify. There were a few Pugs that I struggled with and several micros that I just can't do. My totals were:

Marbled Beauty - 6
Heart And Dart - 1
Gothic - 2
Scalloped Oak - 3
Common Wainscot - 2
V-Pug - 1
Buff Ermine - 2
Dot Moth - 6
Large Yellow Underwing - 1
Bright-line Brown-eye - 2
Garden Carpet - 1
Small Angle Shades - 1
Buff Arches - 1
Grey Arches - 1

 Scalloped Oak

Small Angle Shades

 Buff Arches

Buff Ermine

It's going to be too windy tomorrow for ringing at the Obs unfortunately, which is a shame as the series of weak weather fronts coming in from the west might stir things up a bit. I'll just have to have a stagger round and see what I can see. Oh for some fresh wader habitat!!!