Garden Migrants

It is a while since I wrote a blog. I have been ringing frequently but a lot of the same birds were being caught until today.
I have several net positions in my garden and my favourite net at 40ft usually produces most of my finches. I have contemplated for awhile to erect a second net in this area and this afternoon I continued the net ride and added a 60ft net. Being the impatient type I decided to try it out between 5.00pm and 7.00pm this evening. I caught 19 birds as can be seen in the chart below

The two Blackcaps were in the net next to each other, both males and one was carrying and amazing amount of fat at a score of 6. The other had a fat score of 1. Both these birds were the first for the season and were aged 5.

Both the Marsh Tits were again next to each other in the net. One was a female with a Brood Patch score of 2 and the other was a male with a CP. Both birds were re-traps, the male initially ringed on 30/05/2013 and the female 12/11/2013 in my garden. Neither bird had been re-trapped before by me until today. It is good to know that they are breeding somewhere in my garden or surrounding area.

Finally I caught and ringed my third Chiffchaff of the year and my first Willow Warbler of the year. Not a lot of birds but it was great to see that some of the migrants have arrived and the Marsh Tits are still around

Species	New	Re-trap	Control	Total
Dunnock		1		1
Great Tit	1	1		2
Goldfinch	2	3		5
Song Thrush		1		1
Blue Tit	1	3		4
Willow Warbler	1			1
Chiffchaff	1			1
Blackcap	2			2
Marsh Tit		2		2
Totals	8	11		19