More Siskins

I managed to get a 6m net open in the garden between the showers early this morning and again late this afternoon. Each session barely lasted half an hour but resulted in 20 Siskins (17 new & 3 retrap) being caught. I had suspected that numbers were starting to increase again and that was well and truly confirmed with the numbers caught, seen and heard today. It can be hard to get an accurate handle on numbers but there was certainly an audible increase and there were at least 30 Siskins in and around the garden at one point but more probably visited the feeders over the course of the day.

  

Not your usual view

The 3 retraps were interesting in that they have been around for quite a while and had been ringed on 11th Feb, 25th Feb and 10th March. They weren't carrying much in the way of fat and weighed 12.2g, 12.7g and 11.4g respectively so they don't seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere yet and may not be going to go that far. There have been some heavy birds recently including one at 17.1g on the 25th March and the heaviest today weighed 15.7g. Both these heavy birds were adult males and they will almost certainly be heading back to Fenno-Scandinavia or the Baltic states to breed.

There was plenty of argy-bargy as usual.

This Siskin spent some time feeding on a bud.

Another bird that doesn't appear to be in a hurry to go anywhere yet is the Belgian-ringed Blackcap. It may still be fattening up or it may be waiting for just the right conditions before migrating back to central Europe. Looking at the forecast there may be a suitable opportunity later this week but then I have thought that before, I will just have to wait and see.

The Belgian-ringed Blackcap has been seen in the garden nearly every day since 17th January.