It's a start

With the recent increase in Linnet numbers at Caister an early morning start on Saturday 17th March was the order of the day.
We arrived at 05:30 to find a cool cloudless pleasant morning, however by 08:30 it was overcast and raining. Luckily we had packed up by then as the birds were not playing ball!
Surprisingly there were still 8 Snow Bunting on the beach, they seemed a bit reluctant at first , but eventually 5 were caught. 3 were new and 2 were colour ringed birds, one of ours that had been to Kessingland and one from Kessingland, Suffolk.
All were Nivalis birds, and were probably the last of the Winter here.

5 Male Nivalis Snow Bunting.

Same bird as above, showing wing and tail pattern for  5 Male Nivalis Snow Bunting.

There was a lot of Linnet activity in the area behind us and several small parties flying over the food but only one group of 5 landed. These were duly caught and resulted in 4 new birds and a retrap from 02/04/2011.

At least it's a start and hopefully there will be more to follow.

Male Linnet

While we were there Dave had a probable Woodlark fly over with 2 Skylark and a Red throated Diver flew north offshore. Also during the course of the morning several flocks of Starling were flying south.
At least 7 Grey Seals were patrolling  offshore in the breakers. 

Surprise return.

After the last blog we thought the Ludham cover crop had finished for the year. James and Gary however persevered in putting the seed out and Dave kept an eye on what was happening. Eventually to our surprise the Bunting numbers began to pick up, Dave estimating 60 birds present with most being Reed Bunting.
An afternoon session was decided upon, so Sunday 11th March we arrived at the site for 3pm.

 Adult male Yellowhammer.

29 birds were caught, 8 new Yellowhammer, 21 Reed Bunting of which 3 were recent retraps and one a control. The control was originally ringed at Holme BO in North Norfolk on 10th Nov 2011, quite a good movement.

With the nearby fields now ploughed up we could be in for some more in the coming weeks.

As we packed up a Barn Owl was seen hunting over the adjacent fields.

***

During the week a couple of phone calls from Winterton created the opportunity to ring  15 Jackdaws  and a Rook on the first date then another 7 Rook on the second date, fantastic! Close up these birds are superb with their purple and blue glossy plumage. 

(5) 2cy Rook.

(6) Adult Rook.

Caister beach still has some Snow Buntings present with at least 21 there on Wednesday, Linnets are also increasing with 21 seen last weekend.