Saturday 23rd April
An excellent morning at PC World, Poole this morning for Shaun, Terry, John, Marcus and Gryllo.
A man made water channel behind the store sees treated water flow out towards the bay and has become a magnet for over wintering Chiffchaffs attracted to the warmer urban conditions.
These overwintering birds have now been joined by early migrants also seeking refuge amongst the bitterly cold March weather.
After a late start at 08:00 the first round was quiet. However lots of Chiffs were seen feeding by the waterline. Next round was really
busy and the rest of the morning continued in same vain. We were still
catching when we took down at 1pm.
In the end we caught 73 Chiffs of which 68 were new (1 tristis), 4 were re-trapped from previous visits and 1 was a control.
2 Siskins and other odds and end made up 75 new birds!
fringing to the outer webs of the primaries - Photo by Ian Lewis http://gryllosblog.wordpress.com/
Sunday 24th April
After yesterdays success Shaun, Gryllo, Sean and Simon returned to see lots of Chiffchaffs still around, including many of
yesterday’s birds still present and feeding right down at the
water’s edge.
Today we caught 13 new ones and 12 from yesterday or earlier dates.
Other birds ringed included Goldcrest, Wren and Dunnock plus 10+ Sand Martin seen flying around the water.
Another 'possibly' tristis bird was caught, so a feather sample of both this bird and yesterdays will be sent off for genetic analysis to ascertain identification as part of an agreed BTO project.
So after cold toes and locking my keys in the car, definitely a successful weekend
Posted by: Simon Breeze
