17/09/15: Wave of Crests

The 17th produced the best catch of Goldcrests of the autumn so far with 34 being caught in the first couple of hours. There were a few calling at first light but not enough to give me the impression that there had been a significant arrival overnight; however, 9 Goldrests in the first net round rapidly changed my view on that. Most moved through quite quickly and by 9:00am they had largely gone with only the odd one being seen or heard in the following couple of hours. The turnover of Goldcrests at Billinge, as revealed by ringing, is really quite impressive with the numbers recorded fluctuating markedly during the course of a day and from day to day.

Last year I ringed 312 over the autumn which was far more than I expected and this autumn seems to be following a similar pattern both in terms of timing and numbers. None of the other sites I have ringed at in the area have such large and concentrated numbers moving through in autumn and 34 would have been a good annual total for some of them.

This Goldcrest is from the previous day (16th) when 11 were caught and I had a bit more time to take photographs.

The 13 Chiffchaff ringed underlined that there had been a small fall overnight as did 4 new Robins. A Willow Warbler was noteworthy as it is getting late for that species now and it could be the last of the year. The 17th was also another Lesser Redpoll day with 13 ringed and only 1 retrap from the previous day. On the other hand Meadow Pipits were still well down on the numbers that should be around or passing through at this time of year and only 3 were caught. Interestingly one of the Meadow Pipits was a retrap and had been ringed as a juvenile on 4th August last year so had come from the small local breeding population. All in all a busy and interesting morning.

Ringing totals for 17/09/15 were: Meadow Pipit 2 (1); Robin 4; Blackcap 4 (1); Chiffchaff 13; Willow Warbler 1; Goldcrest 33 (1); Blue Tit 1 (1); Goldfinch 4; Lesser Redpoll 13 (1); Reed Bunting 1. Total 76 new birds and 5 retraps.