Its been an interesting season this year to date . With 269 sightings of colour ringed birds logged so far which is 78 up on the whole 2013 season. A total of 36 adults (21 males and 15 females) and 43 juveniles (21 and 22 females) have been recorded to date. There are also a number of unringed birds around with a maximum of 5 being seen at any one time. These are almost certainly all juveniles.
The birds this year have used the path for gritting much more than in recent years. Possibly because it was very dry when they started gritting in late September and also because some new filling was put down to repair holes in the track. However most sightings have been on the grit trays. Another reason for some birds switching to the path was that Chris Packham in Autumn Watch tried an experiment with different sizes of grit in three bowls. The birds certainly didn't like this until they replaced the bowls with a partitioned grit tray. However most of the birds using the path are juveniles.
Birds usually visit the grit trays on 3-5 days but as usual some birds visit more often. The record this year is a young female D752024 which has been recorded on the trays on 15 different days. Birds regularly visit in presumed pairs as is shown in the photo. This year we have a young male and a female which we ringed in the same nest box on May 2nd . They appear to be a pair as they have been seen together on the trays nine times. This is the first time we have recorded brother and sister remaining together into autumn, they were still together today.will be interesting to watch developments.
Many thanks to Keith Kellet and the Gallagher Family for logging most of the sightings.
John
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