Ringing Rewards!

Yesterday I had to meet with some local representatives from the BTO at a location not too far away from home. I was looking forward to this as it was long over due and I was excited about the new proposals that the new regional ambassador, Simon Taylor was suggesting. The only snag was that it buggered up my birding day somewhat. This played into my hands as I had been neglecting my local ringing site and had been very focused on bird watching of late. I arrived on site at dawn and opted to just put up three nets and try my luck during the morning. 

The Goss site tails off during mid September with just a scattering of migrants passing through and my enthusiasm generally wains as I start seeing reports of good birds found around Cornwall's headlands and valleys. I have always traditionally had a days ringing or two in October on the Goss, when Bob and I have our week off work together. You would think I would have learn't that it can still produce after an inland Yellow-browed Warbler record this time last year! 

Anyway to cut a long story short it seems as if West Cornwall is not the only place harbouring large numbers of Crests at the moment! I ended my session on 55 new birds with the bulk of the catch being 22 Goldcrest, 10 Long-tailed Tit, 11 Blue Tit and a most welcome 3 Firecrest! I also had a Greylag Goose fly over the Moor which was a first for me. There were also several Siskin's about which I hope will stay for the winter so that I can target them and try and determine where they originate from. I shall certainly be readjusting my focus moving forward to see what else may turn up! 

It seems that I missed a family party of Long-tailed Tits on my previous visits and was splendid to catch up with 10 new faces to say hello too! 

      I was overjoyed to ring three Firecrest on the Goss as they are never very numerous! 

Today, Bob and I headed to Nanjizal to help a newly arrived ringing group find thier feet and take the pressure off their first morning. It started well with a Yellow-browed Warbler (a species that has become synonymous with Nanjizal), a couple of Firecrest, Goldcrest and Chiffchaff's. Being aware of the Hawfinch numbers that occurred on the Scilly Isles yesterday I thought it prudent to play the call near some berry trees that I spied on the first net round. 

I split from the group during the second round, a) we could cover more ground quicker b) I wanted to get to the Hawfinch net and see if my call had worked! 

We returned to the ringing table and started processing our catch and were blessed with another Yellow-browed Warbler, even more Firecrest and a good catch of common migrants. I saved one bag till last and patiently waited for the birds to be processed and released. Just as the group started to relax I hoisted the last bag and exclaimed "There is one more bird to process"! 

I could see the suspense on the groups face as I extracted the last bird from the holding bag. The look changed to shear shock and awe as I pulled out a beautiful and pristine male Hawfinch! What an absolute stonker and I struggled to contain my excitement during the ringing process. 

The bird was processed and once all the relevant data had been collected had a few photos taken and was released on its merry way. Wouldn't it be amazing if it was controlled in the future to see where it ended up! 

Normally species always appear smaller in the hand when first encountered, this wasn't true of the Hawfinch! 

It was apparent that the individual had been gorging himself on a berry crop recently as the beak was caked! 

The tail was stunning and so clean, no wonder the contrast is so apparent when in flight.

The sides of the secondaries had a gloss black edge allowing me to sex it as a male.

The morning finished with a fantastic haul of 3 Yellow-browed Warbler and 2 retraps, 8 Firecrest and a retrap, 31 Goldcrest, 19 Chiffchaff, 9 Blackcap, 5 Chaffinch, a Sparrowhawk and the incredible Hawfinch! What a cracking morning and what will Nanjizal turn up next?