10th October

With lighter winds than the forecast had suggested we were able to open all the nets for the busiest morning of the autumn so far as a total of 215 new birds were caught with the bulk made up of 115 Blue Tits and 82 Goldcrests although the obvious highlight was an awesome Short-eared Owl caught in Net Four (an overdue ringing tick!); otherwise the variety was poor with just single Blackcap and Chiffchaff of note among the few other birds.

 

                The area was disappointingly quiet after such as busy morning although the [somewhat frustrating] highlight was an almost certain, flyover PENDULINE TIT which went south over Gunnarsmyra; it called a couple of times and I saw it as a tiny speck overhead but I couldn’t get any more details.   Other highlights included a Great Grey Shrike at Vågsvoll and a Slavonian Grebe and Jack Snipe in Verevågen along with a Redstart, a Tree Pipit, 4 Chiffchaffs, 7+ Wheatears and 125+ Rock Pipits while a steady stream of Meadow Pipits headed south along with 6+ Grey Wagtails and some Siskins.  

Awesome Short-eared Owl (probably find it 'Goshawked' later!)

First decent arrival of Goldcrests today

Rock Pipit

Wren

Slavonian Grebe