Snowfall

The Snow Bunting are back at last!
We have been putting the seed out now for 3/4 weeks,but the local Crows and Pigeons have been finding it to their liking, however things were about to change with reports of the first Snow Bunting just North of us.
We must thank David for supplying us with Wheat again this year. 

23 were first reported at Caister on Saturday 10th Nov with 30 there on Sunday, then Gary had 48 on the Wednesday and Tony seeing 60 on Friday, it was time to have a go before they moved off.
When they first arrive they are always mobile moving from one place to another and don't seem to settle down for the Winter much before the end of December.
We arrived at Caister early Saturday (17th) morning, 10 minutes later several birds where flying around our heads calling. Within minutes of the net being set we were catching our first Snow Bunting of the Winter.

Adult female (Insulae race)  Snow Bunting

As above Tail feathers

46 Snow Bunting were caught with 41 new and 4 retraps and 1 control.

Of these 3 were colour ringed birds from Kessingland, Suffolk.
 These have a BTO metal ring on left leg and a Yellow colour ring with a Black inscription on the right leg. Please can any sightings of c/r birds be reported to colin.carter5@virgin.net and BTO. 

KI

KI  Was originally ringed at Caister on 24/12/11 then colour ringed at Kessingland on 15/02/12.

HP Originally ringed Caister 17/12/11 back at Caister on 24/12/11, it was c/r in between these dates at  Kessingland 22/12/11.

J7 Was ringed at Kessingland on 08/02/12.

Thanks to Colin for the c/r data .

The other two retraps were returning Caister birds being ringed  12/11/11 and 28/01/12 respectively. 

Winterton farewell

It's that time of year again to bid farewell to Winterton for another year. 
We had one last go on Saturday 3rd November, the day started with a sharp frost and no wind early on, then warming up slightly and an ever increasing Westerly.
Meadow Pipits were conspicuous by there absence, Thrushes and Finches were thin on the ground.
It was good to catch a few of our logo birds, just to keep those fingers nimble in the cold!

1st. Winter (3) Wren, our favourite !!!!

And an adult (4), stunning !

39 new birds and 5 retraps were processed, with Treecreeper, Jay and Redwing among them.

Wren 3

Robin 5

Blackbird 4

Song Thrush 2

Goldcrest 7 (1)

Long-tailed Tit 8 (1)

Blue Tit 5 (1) originally ringed 22/10/11

Great Tit 1 (2) one from 17/10/10 and the other 01/10/11

Plus one each of Redwing, Chiffchaff, Treecreeper and Jay.

1st Winter (3) Redwing

The second invader caught, this time a 1st. Winter (3)

Not much was going overhead apart from a flock of 10 + Brambling and Tony had a Swallow briefly.

Time now to concentrate on Snow Bunting and the cover crop, hopefully may get a Teal catch as well.

PS The Great Tit control mentioned in the previous post was ringed at Burgh Castle this year as a 3, thanks to Paul Noakes for the info.