Perfect Ringing Conditions .

This morning it was calm, overcast and warm, perfect conditions for ringing in my garden. Quite often when the wind is strong in other areas, my garden is nearly always sheltered, usually when it is a Westerly wind. For example we have been blown off one of our other sites at Oxwich Bay for days now. This morning the wind at Oxwich was in excess of 20mph and as I write the weather forecast says it is 36mph.

Species	New	Re-trap	Control	Total
Robin	2			2
Willow Tit		1		1
Blue Tit	22	4		26
Great Tit	3	1		4
Nuthatch	1	1		2
Chaffinch	5	2		7
Goldfinch	19	5		24
Lesser Redpoll	1	3		4
Total	53	17		70

The second net round was very good, 23 birds in total and before I started processing I decided to close the nets, just to be on the safe side. The bird numbers flying around all morning were high, so I wasn't surprised to have processed 70 birds by 12.30am

Again today I caught Lesser Redpoll. One new bird, two Re-traps from last week and a Re-trap from last year, originally ringed on 02/02/2014 as a 6M. This is now 4 new birds this year

Earlier in the week I heard a Willow Tit calling in the garden and posted as much on Twitter. Today I caught this bird which was a Re-trap, originally ringed by me on 26/11/2014. It is good to see they are still hanging about and I am hopeful there is a good chance of catching some more. .

I don't get many Nuthatch but today I had two, both females. One new bird and a Re-trap caught last year on 8/08/2014 as a 3J.

A good score of Goldfinch on the feeders today. 19 new birds, 5 Re-traps

For the benefit of non ringers a Re-trap is a bird I have caught which was originally ringed by me. A Control is a bird I have caught but was originally ringed by someone else and could be from anywhere in the world.