After some prolonged rain overnight it was another fantastic October day with another all day ringing session in sometimes very pleasant conditions; we were again flat out through the morning with the bulk of the 715 Goldcrests being caught which in turn formed most of the 917 new birds trapped; there were again some good highlights with a stunning PALLAS’S WARBLER caught in the afternoon along with another Yellow-browed Warbler, 2 Firecrests and 9 Northern Bullfinches.

Todays totals -   31 Wren \ Gaerdesmutte;   94 Robin \ Roedhals;   3 Blackbird \ Solsort;   2 Song Thrush \ Sangdrossel;   3 Redwing \ Vindrossel;   1 Blackcap \ Munk;   1 Pallass Warbler \ Fuglekongesanger;   1 Yellow-browed Warbler \ Hvidbrynet Loevsanger;   28 Chiffchaff \ Gransanger;   715 Goldcrest \ Fuglekonge;   2 Firecrest \ Roedtoppet Fuglekonge;   14 Blue Tit \ Blamejse;   7 Great Tit \ Musvit;   1 Treecreeper \ Traelober;   1 Chaffinch \ Bogfinke;   3 Lesser Redpoll \ Lille Grasisken;   9 Northern Bullfinch \ Stor Dompap;   1 Reed Bunting \ Roerspurv

                Overhead passage was much reduced from yesterday but there were still Finch flocks and really high Fieldfare flocks heading out (30,000 were counted at the point although they weren’t obvious over the garden) while other little bits included a couple of Hawfinches, a Woodlark, a few raptors with 4 Rough-legged Buzzards, a couple of Red Kites and many Sparrowhawks seen and some big Barnacle and White-fronted Goose flocks.

                Other things of note included my first 2 Whooper Swans of the autumn which flew noisily over the garden at first light, 2 Black Redstarts and an awesome little Weasel which was capering around my feet near one of the nets at dusk – hopefully he doesn’t get start to associate them with food….

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The weather conditions today have been really good for ringing, so we have kept going ringing until sunset. As previous days, we have had an invasion of Goldcrests fying all around the garden and of course many of them endep up in our nets ;),  making us to close down nets up to two during all morning. Once the Goldcrest number went down (more reasonable), we re-opened the nets and we were looking forward to get more species diversity.  In fact, we have ringed a total of 678 new individuals and more impressive 24 different species!!!

The Hightlights for today have been the Yellow-Browed Warbler, 12 Northen Long-Tailed Tits ( the cutest bird ever: " copitos de nieve" as I like to call them in Spanish which means snowflakes), 11 Lesser Redpolls, 2 Firecrests and the amazing female Hawfinch.

In addition, it has been an amazing day for migration. Thousands birds have been migrating over our heads todays. Every time we have looked at the sky, there have been a large flock of thrushes ( Fieldfares and Mistle Thrushes mainly) and finches (Siskins, Chaffinches, Goldfinches,... ) several Sparrowhawks or Jackdaws;  and also a few Red Kites, Merlins, Barn Swallows,.....

Totals:  Wrens  26  /  Dunnock  1  / Blackbird  3  /  Song Thrush  2  / Redwing  1  /  Blackcap  3  / Yellow-Browed Warbler  1 / Chiffchaff 8 /Goldcrest  486 / Firecrest 2  Treecreeper  3  /  Tree Sparrow  1 /Northern Long-Tailed Tit  12  /              Southern Long-Tailed Tit  2 /  Blue Tit  29  / Great Tit  18 / Chaffinch  5  /  Greenfinch  1  /  Siskin  19  /  Lesser Redpoll  1  /  Bullfinch  1  /                  Northern Bullfinch  1 / Hawfinch  1

Again rain first thing but this time it lingered on and off throughout the whole day, never very heavy just enough to disrupt any ringing; we were limited to one or two nets, watched constantly, extracting birds as soon as they were caught, with this labour intensive method we managed a respectable 159 new birds.   The total included 118 Goldcrests, 20 Robins, 10 Chiffchaffs and the highlight of 3 Northern Bullfinches caught together in the afternoon.

Todays totals - 3 Wren \ Gaerdesmutte;   20 Robin \ Roedhals;   1 Blackbird \ Solsort;   2 Blackcap \ Munk;   10 Chiffchaff \ Gransanger;   118 Goldcrest \ Fuglekonge;   1 Blue Tit \ Blamejse;   1 Siskin \ Groensisken;   3 Northern Bullfinch \ Stor Dompap

                As soon as the heavier rain moved through around 09:00 there was an impressive movement of Finches low over the garden for a couple of hours and with them were a Woodlark, a Hawfinch, a Grey Wagtail and a few Crossbill flocks while some decent White-fronted Goose flock milled around overhead.

                A few hours birding at a couple of sites in the middle of the day produced a juvenile Black-throated Diver and a first winter Little Gull offshore at Buserup Strand with good numbers of Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests and Robins scattered along the coast before the highlights at Kroghage were a flock of 11 Northern Long-tailed Tits and a Firecrest along with 23 Tundra Bean Geese over to the west, a Grey Wagtail, a Wheatear, 7 Scaup on the pools, a Black Redstart and predictably a good spread of Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs and Robins but nothing too different.

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Rain for the first few hours of the morning delayed proceedings but when it finally stopped around 09:00 the garden was jumping with birds; some nets were gradually opened, with one of the first birds to be caught being a smart first winter Red-breasted Flycatcher, from where we managed a very decent 571 new birds through the rest of the day.   Obviously the totals were dominated by 447 Goldcrests but also included 20 Chiffchaffs and 58 Robins while a bit of quality was added with a cracking Hawfinch, another Firecrest, a Common Redpoll with some Lessers which came into roost and a Treecreeper.

Todays totals (not standardised)     6 Wren \ Gaerdesmutte;   58 Robin \ Roedhals;   3 Blackbird \ Solsort;   1 Blackcap \ Munk;   20 Chiffchaff \ Gransanger;   447 Goldcrest \ Fuglekonge;   1 Firecrest \ Roedtoppet Fuglekonge;   1 Red breasted Flycatcher \ Lille Fluesnapper;   2 Coal Tit \ Sortmejse;   7 Blue Tit \ Blamejse;   3 Great Tit \ Musvit;   1 Treecreeper \ Traelober;   3 Chaffinch \ Bogfinke;   6 Siskin \ Groensisken;   1 Linnet \ Tornirisk;   1 Common Redpoll \ Norlig Grasisken;   9 Lesser Redpoll \ Lille Grasisken;   1 Hawfinch \ Kernebider

                It was also very lively overhead as soon as the rain cleared through with flocks of Finches again pouring overhead with these early flocks being joined by 5 Woodlarks, a Serin, 3+ Hawfinches and a few Crossbill flocks.   I didn’t really see much else through the day as I was ringing constantly throughout although an adult Little Gull did fly over the garden in the afternoon.

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The weather for this morning was almost perfect  for another crazy ringing day as yesterday:  misty but a bit more windy. As  it happened yesterday, we had a quite first round; but  after this, many Goldcrests suddenly appeared from nowhere and jumping into our nests. Hopefully, it was expected  and we have just opened a few nests ;). 

No surprising Goldcrest have been the main start of the day with 459 new individuals ringed, but we have also got a few others nice species among them: 1 Firecrest (always cute and punky at the same time!!), a leucistic Goldcrest (maybe a new subspecies ;) who knows!!!! ) and the second Fieldfare of the autumn. Chiffchaff figure has also increased, being more likely to see (or hear) one Eastern looking around the garden or in our nests within the next days, crossing fingers again!!! 

In addition, we have also got another nice amazing surprise: three controls from Sweden ( 2 Goldcrests and 1 Blackcap). As everybody knows this is one of the main purpose of ringing and it's always exciting to discover where these birds were ringed or retrapped. Our  guess is Falsterbo, but who knows!!!! 

Totals: Wrens  14  /  Robins  72  /  Blackbird  3  /  Fieldfare  1  /   Song Trush  1  /  Blackcap  4  /  Chiffchaff  22  /  Goldcrest  459  /  Firecrest  1  / Coal Tit  1  /        Blue Tit  3  /  Great Tit  2  /  Greenfinch  1 /  Siskin  1

A simply classic autumn ringer’s day, the ones you dream about!   The wind dropped off to hardly anything but it stayed cloudy allowing us to put in a full day of ringing ending up with a monster 981 new birds; by far the star of the show were 854 Goldcrests caught (a tiny percentage of the actual number of birds which passed through today!).   The meagre totals of other species caught included a Yellow-browed Warbler, a Firecrest, 2 Treecreepers, 7 confusing Redpolls (probably Lessers) and 72 Robins.

Todays monstrous totals    10 Wren \ Gaerdesmutte:   3 Dunnock \ Jernspurv;   72 Robin \ Roedhals;   2 Blackbird \ Solsort;   2 Sangdrossel;   2 Blackcap \ Munk;   1 Yellow browed Warbler \ Hvidbrynet Loevsanger;   5 Chiffchaff \ Gransanger;   854 Goldcrest \ Fuglekonge;   1 Firecrest \ Roedtoppet Fuglekonge;   4 Blue Tit \ Blamejse;   1 Great Tit \ Musvit;   2 Treecreeper \ Traelober;   2 Chaffinch \ Bogfinke;   13 Siskin \ Groensisken;   7 Redpoll sp. \ Grasisken

Slightly confusing Redpolls

                The factor that made the Goldcrest numbers even more special was that it wasn’t just a dump of migrants brought down by the weather conditions it was that they were all actively and obviously migrating with flocks pouring over the garden even before it got light in the morning – a whopping 13,000+ were counted passing the point through the day with countless birds hitting the buildings on the tip and getting eaten by Gulls, Sparrowhawks, cats and anything else that fancied a bite size Goldcrest!

                I had literally no time to look up to see what was passing over the garden through the extremely busy morning but it was clear that tens of thousands of birds were piling overhead; as in previous days Chaffinches and Bramblings dominated with 35,000 counted on the point as well as 8,000 Siskins and a Gedser record breaking 5,900 Mistle Thrushes.   I didn’t see much else from the garden but there did seem to be good numbers of Crossbills heading over with 100+ seen and heard through my infrequent looks in the sky.

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Despite of the strong and cold wind, this morning we have managed to open a few nests around the garden and kept going until 14h when it started to rain-just on time. We haven't got wet at all!!!. 91 new birds and 12 different species were ringed, not so bad numbers for such an unfavorable weather conditions. 

As previous days, Goldcrests and Robins kept us entertained, being the species most abundant with 49 and 23 new individuals ringed (respectively), plua " a few· more retraps from the last 4 days. The most exciting moment happens when Simon found the first Ring Ouzel ( a nice juvenile male) for the autumn in one of the nets. Such an amazing surprise specially for me as it has been the first one on the hand!!!. In fact, I have not only had the opportunity to see it but also to ring it. Muchas gracias!!! Thanks so much!! Tak!!! This has been absolutely great!!! More likely, this individual is the same one as the one has been heard and seen around the garde for the last two days, but maybe no!! An we¡ll have another one within a few days ;).

In addition, we have had also one new Coal Tit and two new Eurasian Treecreepers ringed, one of them with a long beak which made us to thinkt that it could be a Short-Toed Treecreeper, but unfortunately no!!! :(

Looking forward for tomorrow as the forecast looks much better- maybe we'll have even a better surprise: one od this rarities going aorund will end up in one of our nests!!! Who knows!!! Crossing Fingers and Touch Wood at the same time for double luck :)))

Totals:

Wrens   5  / Robins  23  / Ring Ouzel  1  / Blackbird  1  / Blakcap  1  /

Goldcrest  49  / Firecrest  1  / Coal Tit  1  / Blue Tit  1 /  Great Tit  3  /

Eurasian Treecreeper  2  /  Siskin  3

Dry again but again the easterly wind built up through the day to become very strong by the afternoon, the nets were productive though with a good 278 new birds caught, largely made up of 177 Goldcrests and 60 Robins while other little bits included a late Swallow, 6 Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap, 2 Coal Tits and a Goldfinch.

 Today's totals - 1 Swallow \ Landsvale;  12 Wren \ Gærdesmutte;  60 Robin \ Rødhals;  1 Blackbird \ Solsort;  1 Blackcap \ Munk;  6 Chiffchaff \ Gransanger;  177 Goldcrest \ Fuglekonge;  2 Coal Tit \ Sortmejse;  2 Blue Tit \ Blåmejse;  2 Great Tit \ Musvit;  2 Chaffinch \ Bogfinke;  4 Greenfinch \ Grønirisk;  1 Goldfinch \ Stillits;  6 Siskin \ Grønsisken;  1 Reed Bunting \ Rørspurv

 It was an excellent day of visible migration with thousands of Finches and Thrushes heading east over the garden, it was most impressive looking across the front field where for long periods of time wave after wave of Chaffinches, Bramblings and Siskins streamed eastwards at head height.   The flocks also contained good numbers of Linnets and Goldfinches while Mistle Thrushes and Fieldfares also moved through in decent flocks and a few Skylarks and Meadow Pipits were also obvious – 6,000+ mixed finches were counted from the point.   Late Swallows were also more obvious today with c20 seen through the day.

 There were a few interesting bits around the garden through the day (but again there was limited time to go birding) with an excellent flock of 27 Hawfinches high overhead (probably a Gedser record count!), a Ring Ouzel which spent all day feeding on Rowan berries around the nets but never getting caught, a Great Grey Shrike in the front hedge and the female Northern Bullfinch from a couple of days ago re-trapped while the garden was again full of frantically feeding Goldcrests and Robins.

A drive across the field late afternoon produced several Little Gulls, a Merlin and a Rough-legged Buzzard.

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The first completely dry day for a good while with the easterly wind increasing from a moderate breeze in the morning to howling strong by late afternoon; it was a fantastic day of ringing with at least some nets open all day as we managed an excellent 443 new birds caught highlighted by a second Great Grey Shrike, 4 awesome white headed Northern Long-tailed Tits and the first 2 Mistle Thrushes of the year.

                The numbers were dominated by 314 Goldcrests – mainly caught during a very hectic first few hours along with 30 Blue Tits, 53 Robins and 14 Blackbirds plus bits and bobs of other things including 2 Coal Tits, 4 Chiffchaffs, a Blackcap and a Redwing.

Today's ringing totals - 3 Wren / Gaerdesmutte;  3 Dunnock / Jernspurv;  53 Robin / Roedhals;  14 Blackbird / Solsort;  4 Song Thrush / Sangdrossel;  1 Redwing / Vindrossel;  2 Mistle Thrush / Mistledrossel;  1 Blackcap / Munk;  4 Chiffchaff / Gransanger;  314 Goldcrest / Fuglekonge;  4 Northern Long-tailed Tit / Nordlig Halemejse;  2 Coal Tit / Sortmejse;  30 Blue Tit / Blamejse;  2 Great Tit / Musvit;  1 Great Grey Shrike / Stor Tornskade;  1 Chaffinch / Bogfinke;  2 Greenfinch / Groenirisk;  2 Siskin / Groensisken

Northern Long-tailed Tit

                There was not much else seen really (not that there was any time to look up during the morning!) with 4 Swallows still, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a few Chaffinches and Bramblings heading east and a few White-fronted Goose flocks heading south.

Goldcrests were again hopping around your feet

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Still windy, still overcast and still damp so an attempt at ringing first thing was doomed to be short lived but did include another beefy female Northern Bullfinch; we closed just in time to avoid the very heavy rain which lingered through the latter half of the morning.   It brightened up considerably by midday so the nets were reopened but closed again after an hour for more rain had moved in, this only lasted a short time though and by 14:00 the nets were once again catching birds but this time we lasted right through the pleasant, if still a bit breezy afternoon.

Today's ringing totals (short morning session and longer in the afternoon) - 2 Wren / Gaerdesmutte;  1 Dunnock / Jernspurv;  91 Robin / Roedhals;  18 Blackbird / Solsort;  3 Song Thrush / Sangdrossel;  1 Redwing / Vindrossel;  53 Goldcrest / Fuglekonge;  1 Blue Tit / Blamejse;  1 Great Grey Shrike / Stor Tornskade;  1 Brambling / Kvaerkerfinke;  1 Siskin / Groensisken;  1 Northern Bullfinch / Stor Dompap

                This afternoon session produced a decent 123 new birds highlighted by a cracking first winter Great Grey Shrike and was largely made up of 67 Robins and 32 Goldcrests.   There were some good birds around through the afternoon including a single male PARROT CROSSBILL which circled the garden calling several times, a Serin which did likewise later on, 3 Hawfinches overhead and a few waders including 28 Grey Plover, 50 Golden Plover and a Curlew although these were probably feeding in nearby fields and not migrating.

Great Grey Shrike

                Visible migration was a bit slow today with a few Finches flocks heading east along with a few Thrushes including a couple of decent flocks of Mistle Thrushes and Fieldfares while small flocks of White-fronted Geese continued to head south.

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