Yellow-browed Warbler - just the one.

What was looking like being a very disappointing ringing session, that didn't even include the customary decent haul of Goldcrests, ended in style with a Yellow-browed Warbler caught in the last net round this morning. It had been a relatively poor session and I had struggled to get past 20 birds so I started taking the nets down just before 11am. When I went to the last net to take it down there were 3 birds in it - a Treecreeper, a Chiffchaff and the aforementioned Y-b Warbler. There hadn't been any birds in that particular net on the previous two net rounds and not a sniff of a Yellow-browed Warbler up to that point.

Yellow-browed Warbler 22/09/16

Yellow-browed Warbler 22/09/16

Yellow-browed Warbler 22/09/16

Catching one is not the surprise it once was as this is the 3rd I have had at the site in the last 3 years but it is still a good record for the west side of the country, especially away from the coast. In fact this could be the first one on the west side of the country this autumn and if it doesn't turn out to be the first it will probably be equal first or in the first few. As parts of the east coast and places like Fair Isle have been awash with them in the last couple of days there are plenty more that could come this way over the next week or so.

Ringing totals for 22/09/2016 were: Goldcrest 6 (1); Blue Tit 1; Great Tit 2; Yellow-browed Warbler 1; Chiffchaff 3, Blackcap 2; Treecreeper 1; Robin (1); Dunnock 2; Meadow Pipit 4; Bullfinch 1; Yellowhammer 1; Reed Bunting 3. Total 27 new birds and 2 retraps.

I had much better sessions, in terms of numbers, earlier in the week with Goldcrests moving through the site in reasonable numbers. A catch of 52 birds on 20/09/16 included 22 new Goldcrests and the number of Goldcrests ringed this month, up to and including today's, now stands at 162. Add to that the the 10 ringed in July and 39 ringed in August and the total rises to 211 which is ahead of the number ringed up to this point last year. So I am still on track for another bumper Goldcrest autumn but I won't mind if there are 1 or 2 more Yellow-browed Warblers too.