We had a session planned at the Quarry this morning to try to catch birds feeding on small cherries that have formed on flowering cherry trees in the Japanese Garden section. Upon sticking my head out the door found, contrary to the forecast, it was raining steadily. When I arrived at the Quarry it was still raining, not hard but too hard for mist netting. A few others had also arrived so we decided to check some nest boxes, and banded 3 young Starlings in one so it wasn't a complete waste of time. While standing around talking the weather decided to clear up. Up went some nets and we were underway an hour and a half later than planned.
In the next couple of hours we processed 32 birds of 8 species with 26 new and 6 recaptures.
Species caught were - (recaps in brackets)
Blackbird - 9 (4) the first 2 caught both had pox on their legs which is in my experience unusual in Blackbirds. One also had a crusty/scabby area on its belly around the vent and I am not sure what is was. These 2 were the only birds caught with any problems.
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| The Blackbird with the large Pox on its leg. |
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| The one with a small pox and a crusty bottom. |
Song Thrush - 1
Dunnock - 1
House Sparrow - 6 (2) one of the recaps was banded April 2018 and is now the oldest Sparrow we have recaptured. It was banded only about 100m from where it was recaptured. In contrast the other recap was banded at Ruud's place about 1km away.
Greenfinch - 2
Goldfinch - 3
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| Two of the Goldfinch, probably a pair. Caught together and banded in a short ceremony. |
Silvereye - 1
as well as the 3 Starling nestlings from the nest box.
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