Crests

This morning Ian and I had our first ringing session for some time and we headed to the feeding station under frosty conditions. The weather for ringing was perfect in that it was calm and overcast, however the birds didn't know that it was perfect weather conditions for ringing except for one little gem!

We put the nets up and retreated to the ringing table for coffee. As we chatted and put the birding world to rights we heard Goldcrest calling, so on the next round we put Goldcrest on the MP3 player. It was very slow ringing wise and on the next round we had caught just a few birds and in the far net what we thought was the Goldcrest. However, when we got close to it we could see it was a gorgeous stripey Firecrest!

 Firecrest

This was a first ringing record for the Obs, and though in the grand scheme of things that doesn't mean very much, it was still nevertheless a cracking little bird. We did also catch a Goldcrest next round, but in total we only ringed six biirds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Dunnock - 2
Firecrest - 1 male
Goldcrest - 1 male
Great Tit - 1 (3)
Blue Tit - 1 (2)
Chaffinch - (1)

 Goldcrest

Great Tit

We had very little else from a birding perspective other than about a couple hundred Greenfinches exiting the roost and numbers of 'Pink-feet' calling as they too left their estuarine roost. I forgot to mention another good bird that I had in the week at the feeding station, which was a personal first for me at the Obs, and this was a male Bullfinch. They are just about annual in the southern part of the recording area, but this was the first record this winter!

During the afternoon Gail and I stretched our legs along the estuary and we had a female Common Scoter right in the quay which was nice. Of course Common Scoters are common off the Obs, but it was nice to see one close in and away from the open sea.

If the weather is okay tomorrow I will be birding at one of my former birding sites from years gone by, but more of that tomorrow.