Another Tree Pipit

31st August with PH produced 73 birds

 

29 & 1 rt Blackcap

5 & 1rt Dunnock

1 Tree Pipit

8 Chiffchaff

2 Wren

2 Greenfinch

1 Common Whitethroat

1 Lesser Whitthroat

3 Reed Warbler

2 & 2 rt Blue Tit

1 Goldfinch

3 &2 rt Great Tit

1 Robin

1 Woodpigeon

1 Blackbird

2 &2 rt Long tailed Tit

A mixed bag of birds but another good morning.

Tree Pipit code 3 (juv)

Lesser Whitethroat code 4 (adult)

A busy August

 I've been busy ringing the last few weeks with PH and enjoyed some good results at our little site. So here are a few highlights. The 8th of August saw us smash our morning total with the help of PRO with over 100 new birds ringed 2 Grasshopper Warbler, 2 Kingfisher and good numbers Garden Warbler were notable.

 

Juvenile Kingfisher

Grasshopper Warbler 

The 11th and 13th August saw more Juvenile Warblers go through the site - Reed & Sedge, Blackcap.

 The 20th which was a  solo ringing session produced a stunning 1cy Male Pied Flycatcher.

The 24th August highlights were 9 Willow Warbler and 2 Tree pipits both Juveniles.

Tree Pipit

And a total of 7 ringing sessions so far this month plus 4 working visits, we've been busy. And on one of those working visits we had a fly over Great white Egret!

  

A short break

 On the 31st August I drove up to north Norfolk with the wife for a short 3 day break in sweltering heat. We stayed again  in The Wiveton Belle like last year. Most of the time was spent on the beaches or enjoying the food in the Dun Cow and  the Black Lion, which are both very nice pubs.

On our last morning in Norfolk we walked around Salthouse enjoying Bearded Tit, Spoonbill, Little and Sandwich Terns, Fulmar etc. All common birds in Norfolk but not here in Hornchurch - so it made a nice change and so was firing off a few images on the camera as most of mine are from the phone when I'm ringing......

Adult Sandwich Tern

Juvenile 

 

In the garden

Made two visits to our ringing site on the 14th and 17th July with PH catching double figures of common warblers on both dates - these figures will rise as the season goes on........

Back at home in the garden this 2cy Male Sparrowhawk was ringed on the 21st after work. A first for the garden.

 A increase in Golfinches this week with 6 being ringed and no doubt the Sparrowhawk has noticed more birds visiting the garden. A Chiffchaff  was seen on 25th as was a Red Kite over. Other than that Magpies and up to 8 Jackdaw are eating up all the fat balls that were meant for the Rose-coloured Starlings!

Ringing ticks

Saturday morning I joined up with PRO up at the farm with PH for a woodland/garden species ringing session. Over 50 birds processed was a decent total and PH finally got to ring a Pied Wagtail after a five year wait. A code 5 Male was also a first in the hand for me to to be fair - smart birds.

I was up again before 5am Sunday morning with PH ringing at our little site. With over 40 birds processed the highlights were recapturing a male Common Whitethroat ringed back in May 2019 by me as a code 4, which has certainly done some milage migrating back and forth to the south of the Sahara . But bird of the weekend was a beautiful Adult Green Sandpiper, which was a massive surprise when I picked it out of the mist net!

Barn Owls

Before work on Monday morning 30th June I had the pleasure along with PH to ring two young Barn Owls. Both were in good condition and was quickly placed back into their nest box.

Also thanks to Dave Mc and Mick for their effort to make the morning run smoothly.

Gull-billed Tern

Yesterday I drove over to Kent to see the Gull-billed Tern on the Arc pits. I parked in the car park that was now reopened and got it straight away as two kind birders pointed out where the tern was feeding. A quick view of the Black-winged Stilt which was also on the Arc pit showed nicely. Then I drove around to the otherside of the pit to the main road to gain a better view. Most birders were now gathering here and was by far a better place to view it from and was really easy to pick out amongst the Common Terns. I stayed for about a hour then had a walk around the lighthouse at Dungeness enjoying the 2 Black Redstarts being blown about in the strong wind. And I finshed up having lunch from the fish hut- which is highly recommed!

Gull-billed Tern