4000th Bird Ringed

Yesterday, Charlie, Moxey, Daniel and myself headed up to Kings Moss for a session that seemed touch-and-go from the off. The wind was far too strong on the coast, so we headed for the relative shelter of Kings Moss, further inland and, given the wind direction, we were able to get up all of the usual nets.

I had managed to get up to Kings Moss last Wednesday night to set up the feeding station, getting absolutely soaked in the process. Given that this past week, we have seen two-three times the monthly rainfall for September, plenty of the local farmland (and some residential areas) have been pretty flooded. This has coincided with the arrival of large numbers of Pink-footed Geese over the last couple of weeks. In the Holiday Moss area, I estimated a flock of about 5000 but it was likely to have been more and they were a constant presence throughout the morning.

In terms of yesterdays ringing session, it was fairly quiet with very few migrants around. Most of the Blackcap appear to have left our area and Chiffchaff are become more thin on the ground. We did manage three Goldcrest although we were slightly disappointed by this as Moxey managed to ring eleven at Ince during a brief session in the week.

As the feeding stations are freshly set up, and with the abundance of natural food, there was not a huge amount of activity and the main Goldfinch flock seems to have fragmented and dispersed. Despite this, I expect the totals to pick up for the next session.

Wren -   (1)
Blackcap -   2
Goldfinch -   12
Chaffinch -   3
Goldcrest -   3
L.T.Tit -   2   (1)
Blue Tit -   7   (4)
Great Tit -   7   (1)
Robin -   2
Chiffchaff -   1
Greenfinch -   2

TOTAL:   41   (7)

I didn't get any pictures, so you'll have to make do with this one -

Magnolia Warbler (Dendroica magnolia)

Obviously it is not the bird from the Fair Isle, but from my time ringing in Canada a few years ago. My partner in grime/crime and plenty of other mischief from that time, Kevin 'Bloody' Grundy, has been updating his Pannyfants blog and is definately worth a read. Check it out here.