Ringing on 8th Sep 2011

At last, the incessant wind finally lifted briefly this morning allowing George to get some ringing done at Aylmer Avenue whilst Christine Flint and Nigel Judson were over at the Observatory trying their best to make up for two days completly blown out during the week!
  The combined catch included 109 birds processed, made up of 79 New birds and 30 Retraps.

  The catch was made up thus (New/Retrap) - (1/0) Green Woodpecker, (9/0) Meadow Pipit, (2/1) Dunnock, (1/0) Robin, (1/0) Sedge Warbler, (4/1) Lesser Whitethroat, (8/2) Whitethroat, (10/1) Blackcap, (14/0) Chiffchaff, (10/0) Willow Warbler, (4/1) Goldcrest, (0/3) Long Tailed Tit, (0/2) Blue Tit, (0/2) Great Tit, (0/1) Treecreeper, (3/2) Chaffinch, (8/10) Greenfinch, (3/4) Goldfinch and (1/0) Linnet.

  The Green Woodpecker was the first since 2008 and only the 10th ever! It was caught at the ever steady feeding station at Aylmer Avenue and really goes to show the value of this site for generating records of unusual species on the reserve. The last Green Woodpecker caught was also taken from a net at the feeding station. This species is often missed by birders on the reserve as they seldom stay around with only small areas of tree available to them but are ardent admirers of a free meal!

  Also reported on the 8th September 2011 were -
x5 Greenshank
x164 Black Tailed Godwit
x1 Curlew Sandpiper
x1 Pectoral Sandpiper (On the Mere at 4pm - showed for just 10 mins)
Green Woodpecker ringed on the 8th September 2011.
Just the 10th for the observatory ever!
Photo - George Gregory.