GEDSER - 5th October

A carbon copy of yesterday with the blazing force 7 NE wind still howling through the garden making the ringing a bit tricky but we still managed to end up with 131 birds mainly due to the first noticeable catch of 49 Blue Tits (in one net at the same time!) and another little arrival of 29 Chiffchaffs; the highlight though was a cracking Tawny Owl caught in the high net at first light.

                Overhead passage though was very much reduced with only flocks of Barnacle Geese reminding us of yesterday; a Woodlark over the garden was the highlight with only Blue Tits appearing in any big numbers along with a few Siskins and Chaffinches.

                Spent the afternoon tramping round Kroghage where there were plenty of migrants highlighted by a Great Grey Shrike, at least 2 Firecrests, a sandy, pale Lesser Whitethroat looking good for one of the eastern forms which only showed briefly a couple of times, 2 Redstarts and an adult male Black Redstart in amongst a good scattering of Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests, Robins, Dunnocks, Siskins and Reed Buntings while big flocks of Barnacle Geese kept heading high over to the west.

 

Tawny Owl

There's always one lost youngster

Red-breasted Merganser

Dunlin

Cormorant