We have enjoyed another  sunny and "dominguero" day with a total of 345 individuals ringed and 16 different species. Unlike previous days, Robins have been the main start for today with 173 new individuals ringed, which makes us to think the Goldcrest peak migration is over and it would be a shift to Robins/Dunnocks.

As yesterday, there have been no many birds migrating properly to South instead  small flocks of siskins, bullfinches, redpolls, fieldfares  and redwings were moving around the area waiting for the right wind conditions to cross the sea, and lucky us, some of them ended up in our nets ;).

The most exciting observation was made by Simon: the first Waxwing for the autumn flying over. We did put the playback but unfortunately we have not managed to trap it today, maybe tomorrow is the day. I am really looking forward as I have never seen one at all. It is a real "bimbo" ( or also called lifer) in any sense for me and I would love to see it well or even better to handle it!!

Totals: Wrens  12  /  Dunnock  3  /  Robins  173  /  Blackbird  7  /  Song Thrush  6  /  Redwing  6  /  Chiffchaff  18  /  Goldcrest  48  /  Firecrest  1  /  Great Tit 1  /  Chaffinch  1  /  Greenfinch  3  /  Siskin  26  /  Common Redpoll  18  / Lesser Redpoll  14  / Bullfinch  7

Today we have waked up with a thick fog for the first two hours, making the start really slowly. However, once it's cleared out, we have enjoyed a beautiful spring day with a total of 154 individuals banded and 20 different species. Although the weather conditions have been perfect for ringing, there were almost no birds migrating ( if we compare of course with previous days). It seems that birds prefer to migrate in cloudy/raining and windy days; making our day-to-day ringing more challengeable and unpredictable.

Despite of this, there have been small flocks of Siskins, Goldfinches, Bramblings/ Chaffinches and Blue Tits/Great Tits moving around our garden and keeping us entertained but not too busy ;). We have had also two nice surprises: 1 male Great Woodpecker and 1 stunning male adult Sparrowhawk cheering up our day!!!

In addition, we have also observed 15 Common Buzzards, 1 Rough-Legged Buzzard, 2 Red Kites and few Sparrowhawks flying over our heads, but not really migrating. 

Totals: Great Woodpecker  1  /  Sparrowhawk  1  /  Wren  8  /  Dunnock  1  /  Robin  29  /  Blackbird  1  /  Chiffchaff  2  /  Goldcrest  49  /  Blue Tit  14  /  Great Tit  3  /  Trecreeper  1  /  House Sparrow  1  /  Tree Sparrow  7  /  Chaffinch  1  /  Brambling  1  /  Greenfinch  1  /  Goldfinch  1  /  Siskin  26  /  North Bullfinch  2      

A perfect ringing day – calm, partly cloudy with some sunshine in the afternoon but the totals were reduced from the previous week as we seem to have broken the back of the crazy Goldcrest migrations; the total of 351 new birds through the day was still very decent but it was nowhere near as hectic as it has been.   There was still a trickle of 192 Goldcrests caught (mainly in the morning) along with 64 Robins and 27 Wrens while the highlights included a Firecrest, 3 Treecreepers and a female Northern Bullfinch.

Todays totals - 27 Wren \ Gaerdesmutte;   3 Dunnock \ Jernspurv;   64 Robin \ Roedhals;   2 Blackbird \ Solsort;   1 Song Thrush \ Sangdrossel;   2 Blackcap \ Munk;   5 Chiffchaff \ Gransanger;   192 Goldcrest \ Fuglekonge;   1 Firecrest \ Roedtoppet Fuglekonge;   2 Coal Tit \ Sortmejse;   24 Blue Tit \ Blamejse;   8 Great Tit \ Musvit;   3 Treecreeper \ Traelober;   1 Chaffinch \ Bogfinke;   2 Brambling \ Kvaekerfinke;   1 Greenfinch \ Groenirisk;   5 Goldfinch \ Stillits;   6 Siskin \ Groensisken;   1 Lesser Redpoll \ Lille Grasisken;   1 Northern Bullfinch \ Stor Dompap

     Overhead passage was also much reduced despite the fine weather with just a few small flocks of Finches, Woodpigeons, Rooks and Jackdaws moving through; a flock of 120 Cranes also went over while a few raptors included at least 9 Rough-legged Buzzards, 2 Red Kites, 15 Common Buzzards and quite a few Sparrowhawks.   Other little bits around included my first Long-eared Owl of the autumn in the trees by the house, 2 Hawfinches over, a flock of 20 Pintail heading south, the first Great-spotted Woodpecker for a while and in the much quieter afternoon a great flock of 16 Red Kites which flapped lazily over the garden late afternoon and 2 Red-throated Divers calling as they flew east.

Long-eared Owl in the garden

More pictures from around Gedser today www.wykebirding.blogspt.com

As it was predicted, the weather has been perfect for ringing with a total of 778 new individuals ringed and 16 different species; being  the Goldcrests the most abundant with 468 ringed.

However no one has expected to beat the record of Wrens ringed in one day with a total of 189 ( yes, you have read perfectly well: 189 with just 6 nets). What amazing training on how to take out Wrens as quickly as possible ;). In fact, yesterday night we were discussing which species would be the main start: maybe Goldcrests as previous days or maybe there would be a swap to Dunnocks/Robins or Blue Tits, but of course  there was no mention about Wrens.  Who will guess it!!! 

In addition, we have also had a good numbers of Chiffchaffs and Northern Bullfinches ringed (24 and 19 respectively) and another unexpected surprise: one Yellow Wagtail as it is quite late for them.

Totals:  Yellow Wagtail  1  /  Wrens  189  /  Robins  45  / Blackbirds  2  /            Song Thrush  1  /  Blackcap  2  /  Chiffchaffs  24  /  Goldcrests  468  /     Firescrests  1  /  Blue Tit  6  /  Great Tit  3  /  Treecreper  4  /  Chaffinch  1   /  Greenfinch  7  /  Siskin  5  /  Northen Bullfinch  19 

Pretty much rained all day and while never really heavy it prevented any ringing through the morning; it was however a very impressive morning as thousands and thousands of birds continued to pour low over the garden with big flocks of Chaffinch, Brambling and Siskin moving through along with Redpolls, Greenfinches, Reed Buntings etc.   Thrushes were also obvious with thousands of Mistle Thrushes heading through while perhaps more impressive were huge flocks of 2-3,000 Woodpigeons wheeling around high overhead gradually plucking up courage to head south out across the sea – there was no way or time to get any counts but it was enough simply to sit back and enjoy the amazing spectacle that has been a feature of this remarkable autumn so far.

                The garden was also heaving with birds with many Chiffchaffs mixed in with more thousands of Goldcrests filling bushes and grass but again it was not just a dump of birds they were all actively and obviously migrating through and were largely gone by the afternoon.   There was also a big arrival of Dunnocks in the garden with the whole place (and often the sky as well) full of their calls but again they were largely all gone by the afternoon.

                A walk round Kroghage late morning produced more of the same with Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs moving north up the coast whizzing just past your head as they carried on regardless; there was little else there really with 2 Hawfinches and 3 Black Redstarts of note.

                Managed to open a couple of nets in the afternoon by standing next to them and extracting birds as they flew in and in just a couple of hours caught 113 new birds including 72 Robins.   Other bits seen through the day around the garden included the Great Grey Shrike still in the front hedge, a big beast of a female Peregrine chasing Mistle Thrushes around, a couple of Hawfinches and a Short-eared Owl.

A couple of nets in the afternoon produced -   8 Wren \ Gaerdesmutte;   2 Dunnock \ Jernspurv;   72 Robin \ Roedhals;   2 Blackbird \ Solsort;   4 Song Thrush \ Sangdrossel;   2 Blackcap \ Munk;   3 Chiffchaff \ Gransanger;   18 Goldcrest \ Fuglekonge;   1 Blue Tit \ Blamejse;   1 Greenfinch \ Groenirisk;   1 Siskin \ Groensisken

This young male Peregrine has been hanging around the point for a few days and shows some characteristics of Arctic Peregrine, ssp calidus (with the exception of the very rufous scalloping on the mantle)

More pictures www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

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….

More Gedser pictures at www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

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.

More gedser pictures at www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

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.

More Gedser pictures at www.wykebirding.blogspot.com

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