Gold Rush

Another glorious morning at Billinge produced a surprisingly good catch of Goldcrests considering I wasn't playing their song on any of the MP3 players. I had set 3 nets and was playing Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail and Redpoll but the first net round produced 12 Goldcrests and 2 Chiffchaffs and none of the target species. A few more Goldcrests were caught on subsequent net rounds but most were caught in that first round. The final Goldcrest tally was 18 new birds and just one retrap (ringed 28/09/14) making it the largest Goldcrest catch of the autumn to date.

The view to the north east this morning with Winter Hill in the distance.

The view to the south this morning with Fiddlers Ferry Power Station just showing through a sea of early morning fog that affected some very low lying areas.

There have been a number of waves of Goldcrests going through the site over the past few weeks with some of the others resulting in catches of 10 to 15 birds. The number ringed at the site so far this autumn now stands at a fairly impressive 174. All of these birds seem to move on very quickly as there have been very few retraps and on some days there is hardly a Goldcrest on the site. It will be interesting to see how many are recorded through the rest of the month, especially if there are some big arrivals on the east coast.

Goldcrest (Regulus regulus), the bird of the day.

Ringing totals for 02/10/13 with retraps in brackets:
Goldcrest 18 (1)
Chiffchaff 2
Robin 2
Coal Tit 1
Lesser Redpoll 1
Reed Bunting 1
Total 25 (+1 retrap)