:: Wild Places Blog ::

Well, here i am back in the UK! Said goodbye to all those lovely North American birds - the two days before leaving Delta there were so many birds around, we could have caught literally hundreds and hundreds of sparrows and juncoes but had to pack up the nets and clear everything away for the winter then finalise the data and paperwork.

So, this weekend found us heading to Lincolnshire for the opportunity of ringing with our friend James at his site on the Lincs coast. The weather forecast was looking fairly good and there is always the lure of that rarity in the net.  Saturday dawned grey, blustery and distinctly chilly. We put nets up in the coastal scrub although we weren’t able to open them all at first because the wind was initially too strong.

Next we put nets up in the garden of local resident and birder, Phil - he lives in an amazing position, right on the coast - just the sea defence bank separating his house from the beach. Phil has a good feeding station with a great variety of birds visiting.

First bird out of the garden net was a Yellowhammer - a bird i haven’t seen in the hand for a couple of years.

Yellowhammer

Phil keeps a couple of pigs in his garden, a rare breed called the British Lop. I love pigs and couldn’t resist photographing them.

Phil's two British Lop pigs. I'll try and refrain from saying "mmm bacon" under my breath when i'm there.

Plenty of Tree Sparrows visiting the feeders and it wasn’t long before we had some in the net.

Tree Sparrow

The wind dropped down a little and the other 2 nets in the coastal scrub were able to be opened but not much was caught down there. The garden had a steady stream of Blue Tits and Great Tits. It was rather galling to hear the news that Spurn Bird Obs had caught and ringed Red-flanked Bluetail and Radde’s Warbler - we can see Spurn from here!

Sunday morning was much improved wind-wise although the direction was now north-westerly. First bird out of the coastal scrub nets was a Redwing - my first one of the Autumn!

Redwing

Redwing wing showing juvenile-type tertials and some retained greater coverts.

And what ringing session in the UK would be complete with these two “bread and butter” birds…

Robin

Blue Tit - it seemed much more interested in pecking lumps out of my finger than in having it's photo taken!

A very enjoyable weekend and 14 species ringed - Blackbird, Yellowhammer, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Goldcrest, Redwing, Tree Sparrow and House Sparrow. We also caught two birds which had already been ringed - a Blue Tit and a Goldfinch - the ring numbers weren’t James’ and didn’t belong to another local ringer so we will wait with anticipation to find out where they came from.

My first Whooper Swans of the winter were seen and there were Golden Plover and Lapwings on the fields. As we were concentrating on the ringing rather than birding our weekend list isn’t very impressive: Mute Swan, Whooper Swan, Teal, Pheasant, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk, Moorhen, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Redshank, Wood Pigeon, Stock Dove, Collared Dove, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Redwing, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Yellowhammer.