Heysham Obs
A perusal of the weather coming up, work committments and not the least being in an 'early rise' sleep pattern led to another session at Middleton NR this morning. I was hoping for a few new birds amongst retraps from the previous two days. The result was almost unbelievable for this early in the 'autumn' with the singing male Grasshopper Warbler nearest to the CES nets being the only capture which had also been caught/ringed during the previous two days
The statistics revealed that 52 new birds were ringed and other captures comprised the above retrap Grasshopper Warbler, a juvenile Blue Tit ringed in mid-June and a moulting adult Willow Warbler ringed last year. The other feature was that, despite the ringing base being between the two sets of nets, only three same-day retraps were found. Therefore birds were on the move, with Whitethroat being the most notable. Therefore any ringer who is worried about 'overworking' a site because it is too early for major passage had perhaps better read this!
Species composition (retraps in brackets): Linnet 1, Goldfinch 1, Swallow 1, Great Tit 1, Blue Tit 3 (1), Grasshopper Warbler 5 (1), Reed Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler 8, Dunnock 1, Lesser Whitethroat 2, Willow Warbler 10 (1), Wren 1, Common Whitethroat 13, Chiffchaff 4, Blackcap 1, Reed Bunting 2
Moths
Another White Satin and 4 Double Dart the best of the moth trap catch which unfortunately couldn't be checked early on, & some escaped in the sunny weather
