Winter thrushes Friday 27th October 2017

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A ringing session at Pembrey Burrows was definitely on the cards this morning, all looked great even when I could see the stars as the overnight cloud had disappeared.

With just 100ft of net set in some willow scrub and the reeds all was ready by 07:00hrs with the magical "Latvian Redwing" tape playing, I had heard one or two redwing calling in the dark as they flew over, so to find a sprinkling of them in the both nets was justification for the effort.

I caught 11, but as dawn broke it was clear there were 100's on the move one flock alone held c300 birds.

Redwing

The caught and ringed birds were a mix of juveniles and adults, with weights averaging at 61g. There were a few Song Thrush in the bushes but only one in the net, I guess they arrived with the Redwing. None of the thrushes were carrying much in the way of fat, probably having used it up on their journey from the north.

There was also an arrival of Goldcrests, although I only caught four, they were all juveniles with an average weight of 5g - there were many more calling.

The surprise of the session were two  Lesser Redpoll, not caught or knowingly recorded on the reserve previously, again they were both juveniles.

 Lesser Redpoll
[photo from Wikipedia, my camera batteries went flat!]

Nine Reed Buntings added to the total as did a male Blackcap.

Woodpigeons stole the show with several flocks making a total in excess of 1000 birds flying in off the sea and heading north west.

If anyone has empty "fat ball" or bird seed "tubs/buckets" I could do with 12 of them please leave a comment and I'll get back to you.

We are running out of the nature reserve leaflet so I've also been experimenting with QR codes, if you have a QR reader on your mobile you may be able to scan the code and follow the link.




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