Ringing 19/08/12

I went to Longshaw this morning and put up the usual two nets. There didn't seem to be a great deal about other than Willow Warblers which were present in good numbers and clearly moving through. The final tally was:

Willow Warbler 16
Chiffchaff 3
Robin 2
Great Tit 2
Blue Tit 2
Long-tailed Tit 3 (2)
Willow Tit 1
Total 31



Willow Tit (Poecile montanus)

In the evening I went down to Scotmans Flash to see if there was a Swallow roost. After getting myself very wet crossing a ditch in the wrong place I put up just one 60 foot net and played a Swallow lure. There didn't seem to be any Swallows around and I thought I was going to draw a blank. Just as I was thinking about packing up a few small parties started to arrive but these seemed to be reluctant to hang around and quickly moved on. I didn't think I was going to catch anything but then around 100 Swallows eventually gathered and it looked like I could get a reasonable catch after all.

On checking the net a reasonable number of Swallows had been caught and what, at first glance, I assumed to be a Sparrowhawk at the far end. I went to take this out first but was delighted to find it was a Hobby and not a Sparrowhawk. I had not seen this bird at all but it was obviously why the Swallows had been reluctant to hang around at first.



Hobby (Falco subbuteo)

The Swallow tally was 38 new birds and a control making it a very productive evening and more than made up for me getting wet to the waist and eaten by mosquitoes.