A stronger than forecast wind made us change locations from our reed bed site to the more sheltered woodland edge garden of Jerry and Barbara. Even here we could set only two nets and the wind was not helpful but we caught 76 birds. The highlight was the catching of a record 10 Great Spotted Woodpeckers. Taking the catch earlier in the week this was a total of at least 16 visiting the well provisioned feeders. This was made up of 3 adult males, one adult female and 12 juveniles. In total all of last season in 15 visits from August to April we only caught 20 different birds so like many other species productivity appears to be good this year. We also had Green Woodpeckers regularly yaffling and were rewarded with several excellent views, but not near the nets unfortunately.
Other catches brought the total of Bullfinch over the two days to 23 which is three more than the whole of last season. Great Tits at 61 different birds is 24 behind last seasons totals. Blue tit at 52 compares with 153 last year. Again showing what a productive season it has been. Perhaps the most interesting catch was two each of House Sparrow and Starling. Last season we only caught three House Sparrows and no Starlings!
John
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