Wednesday 29th
A check of the nest boxes in the shelter of the Elms was positive with all the occupied nests from the last visit still active and a couple more now with sitting birds. We only detected hatched chicks in one box.
The Robins in the Observatory tower have fledged.
Another amazing Motus record has surfaced. This time it is of a Yellow-browed Warbler which was tagged at Gammalsby, Oland, Sweden on October 1st 2020 and detected here on November 27th 2020, a journey of 1139km. We have no idea why this record was not located before.
Tuesday 28th
Forecasts of a chance of rain last night proved wrong and it remains dry with a cold East to North-East picking up. The lull meant I had time to try and get back into the Motus tracking website and this time I succeeded. It provided two interesting records from last year.
The first involved a Skylark tagged in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, near the southern Danish border on October 10th. It remained in the area until November 5th. It was then recorded at Castricum in the Netherlands on November 6th before being recorded here on November 12th. It was last recorded here on November 21st.
The second involves a Nathusius's Pipistrelle which was tagged near Brighton on September 24th and recorded here on September 30th.
Sunday 26th
Not as calm as forecast but most rides were usable. The new birds were three Whitethroats, two Blackcaps and singles of Chaffinch, Chiffchaff and Robin. The Robin was the first fledged bird to be ringed this year.
A check of the boxes on Sandown Road was positive. There was a Starling with recently hatched chicks and five House Sparrow nests with eggs. The latter is more than we had all last year.
Saturday 25th
The wind dropped overnight and there was even some cloud first thing. The lack of wind allowed a ground frost to form.
Ringing wise it was an improvement with three new Whitethroats, two Blackcaps, a Blackbird and a Chiffchaff.
The Chiffchaff appeared new in as it had the sticky pollen bits around its bill. Some of the other birds were also new as they were only just starting to show development of the brood patch or cloaca.
Friday 24th
The cold north-easterly persisted, if a bit quieter, and it remains very dry. Only two birds were caught - a retrap Blackcap and a retrap Robin.
Sunday 19th
There was a shock yesterday morning with a short bit of light rain but the high pressure quickly reasserted itself to give a sunny day with a cool breeze.
The warblers which arrived yesterday seem to have moved quicky on to their nesting sites and just 11 birds were caught. Four of these were new - two Blackcaps, a Chiffchaff and a Goldfinch.
Friday 17th
A pleasant start with the breeze getting up by mid-morning. The ground remains very dry. Just six new birds but they were all migrants - four Blackcaps, and singles of Whitethroat and Chiffchaff. The Blackcaps seem to be moving on through as none have been retrapped, whereas, some of the Chiffchaffs are holding territories.
The first pulli of the year were ringed - three Robins.
Wednesday 15th
It was much windier than forecast and this limited which nets were used. In a short session before drizzle arrived we caught four birds - two new Blackcaps a Chiffchaff and a Great Tit.
The ground remains hard and dry and so early nesting thrushes will struggle to feed their young.
Tuesday 14th
A check of the final easily accessible nest boxes produced a big surprise with a Coal Tit on eggs. This is a rare breeding record for the Estate. The number of Blue Tit nests seemed to be increasing but there were barely any Great Tit nests on the go yet. We also noted a Robin nest with three chicks at the Observatory.
Sunday 12th
The forecast was not great but it looked as if there would be a window before the wind increased beyond breezy and showers arrived. In the end there were only a couple of drops but the wind did pick up.
It appeared that the unsettled conditions encouraged a few birds to drop in and the first two Willow Warblers of the year were ringed. The other new birds were four Blackcaps, three Chiffchaffs and a Chaffinch. A retrapped Whitethroat was another returning juvenile from last year.
Friday 10th
The warmth hangs on here and it was settled again before the wind started arriving. There were seven new birds and seven retraps. A Whitethroat was the first for the year and perhaps a bit disappointing there was only one considering the number arriving. Five Blackcaps and a Great Tit were the other new birds.
Wednesday 8th
A lovely, warm, sunny day. With lots of apparent nest building activity I thought it best to start checking the nest boxes. This gave mixed results. In the Elms only nine of the 21 boxes showed activity where as along Guilford Road nine of the 13 boxes had activity. Two of the tit boxes had started their clutch with four eggs in one and six in the other. There is still plenty of time for the others to catch up and with the changes in weather so common now anything could happen.
Monday 6th
The wind calmed and by morning it was still. The sky was clear and so a frost formed.
Migrants continue to trickle through and the first Sedge Warbler of the year was caught along with two Blackcaps, a Song Thrush and a Blackbird. A retrap Blackcap had been ringed as a juvenile last autumn.
Saturday 4th
A nice calm start ahead of the approaching wind. The new birds were all probably moving through. There were singles of Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Robin and Great Tit plus two Blue Tits.
The Great Tit was interesting because it had a fat score of four which I do not remember noting in our resident birds.
Wednesday 1st
A calm start with just a bit of cloud meant good conditions for ringing. We found a mixture of newly arrived and departing birds. A new Redwing will have to do a bit of feeding before it can head north. This contrasts with the first new Blackcaps to arrive. Both the male and the female had a high fat score of 5 which was a surprise. If they had flown some distance we would have expected a score of 1, or two at best. These two must have fed up on the way here. There were also two new Chiffchaffs and single Blue Tit and Wren.