So far in 2011 NLRG has caught 24 controls. (a control is generally a ringed bird that has moved more than 5km). This is unusually high for so early the in year. These 24 are made up of:
Grey Wagtail - 1 (sight record in Cumbria)
Coal Tit - 1
Blue Tit - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Goldfinch - 2
Siskin - 4
Common Redpoll - 1
Lesser Redpoll - 14
In previous years by this time we have had rather fewer:
2010 - 2 (Great Tit and Blackbird)
2009 - 4 (Chaffinch, Twite, Blue Tit, Siskin)
2008 - 4 (Great Tit, Blackbird, Blue Tit and Oystercatcher)
2007 - 4 (3x Blue Tit, Blackbird)
2006 - 0
2005 - 3 (2x Great Tit, Chaffinch)
2004 - 2 (Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch)
2003 - 3 (Greenfinch, Great Tit, Blackbird)
2002 - 2 (Long Tailed Tit, Greenfinch)
2001 - 0
I've excluded Wader and Gull sight records as they are largely down to effort rather than a true reflection of how many ringed birds are about.
If we excluded the small finches (Goldfinch, Siskin and Redpoll) we would be at about normal levels. Judging by other ringing group blogs I'm fairly certain we're not the only group catching many more control finches than normal this winter. I look forward to hearing about where all these birds are from.
Richard
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