Back on the patch - Sunday October 11 - Redpoll crazy

It was good to be back at Morton Bagot this morning. I was joined by Dave, and the calm sunny conditions had also tempted the ringers to set up their nets. More of that later.

It wasn't long before it became clear that birds were moving. A flock of 67 Redwings heading south-west were the forerunner of several substantial parties adding up to a count of 238 by noon. We later saw a party of 30 Fieldfares which followed a similar trajectory.

However, four female ducks which flew north had us just as interested. We felt sure that they were Pintails and as this would double the previous highest count recorded here, it seemed sensible to make haste to the flash field. Sure enough they were there, along with five Shoveler and 16 Teal.

The four Pintail

The Shovelers

Anyway, back to Netherstead. We had noticed several Lesser Redpolls before we reached the ringers, but it was evident that they had recorded loads of them. Tony reckoned about 100, nearly half of which they'd caught, and we had no reason to doubt the figure. For our part counting was impossible because they were all over the place in small groups. I got a shot of two in a bush.

Lesser Redpolls

But you know what they say about a bird in the hand.

Adult male Lesser Redpoll

Juvenile Lesser Redpoll

As always, Leigh and Tony imparted a wealth of information explaining how to age the birds they had caught. For example adults have a pinker breast if they are males, and browner wing bars than immatures because at this time of year they have completed their moult leaving pristine flight feathers. These birds are almost certainly all from Northern England and Scotland, and apparently the recovery rate for Redpolls is relatively high so there is a good chance that some recoveries will follow.

Dave and I left them to it and headed back to the pool field to try to count the Stonechats. We eventually came up with 11 for the whole site, a little lower than last week but still a decent number. One disappointment was that the pool had not endured. During the week Sam from HOEF had counted four Mute Swans, a pair and two immatures, on it.

It was not all about winter visitors. We had three late Swallows hurrying south, and recorded a couple of Blackcaps but no Chiffchaffs (although Tony and Leigh saw a couple).

I will add the ringers' final totals as soon as I have them....

The results are in and they make for eye-watering reading:

The total number of birds caught was 176 ! Out of these, 121 were Lesser Redpolls, and out of them 112 were juveniles and only nine were adults. What's more, one of them was a control, so we'll soon learn where it was ringed. Exciting stuff.

The full list:

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Marsh Tit  1

Blue Tit 35 (10)

Great Tit 4 (1)

Blackcap 1

Goldcrest 3

Wren 3

Robin 1

Greenfinch 5

Lesser Redpoll 121

Goldfinch 1

Adult male Lesser Redpoll - per Tony Kelly

Goldcrest - per Tony Kelly

As well as the exceptional catch of Lesser Redpolls, another surprising feature was the very low catch of Great Tits. There is no obvious explanation for that.

Many thanks to Tony and Leigh for sharing the figures.