Meadow Farm: Wednesday, 29th July 2020

The following blog is by Jonny Cooper:

With the weather forecast to be calm and clear I decided to undertake a session at Meadow Farm. I try to carry out two sessions a month at the site across the year, to monitor how the bird life changes. Last year the sessions showed that many species that breed on site had a very good year. If today’s session is anything to go by then 2020 is repeating this breeding success.

For clarity the list of birds processed is set out in two lists: the first list is species ringed and retrapped; the second list is the number of juveniles processed per species.

Ringed and Retrapped: Kingfisher 3; Great Spotted Woodpecker (1); Blue Tit 24(18); Great Tit 5(10); Long-tailed Tit 4(4); Wren 1; Dunnock 1(1); Robin 1(2); Song Thrush 1; Reed Warbler 3(1); Blackcap (1); Whitethroat 2(2); Chiffchaff 13; Chaffinch 3; Goldfinch 6; Greenfinch 10; Bullfinch 1. Totals: 78 birds ringed from 15 species and 40 birds retrapped from 9 species, making 118 birds processed from 17 species.

Juveniles Processed: Kingfisher 3; Blue Tit 35; Great Tit 14; Wren 1; Dunnock 2; Robin 2; Song Thrush 1; Reed Warbler 2; Whitethroat 1; Chiffchaff 12; Chaffinch 2; Goldfinch 5; Greenfinch 10. Total: 90 juvenile birds processed from 13 species.

To catch 3 more Kingfishers is quite exceptional. In the month of July, I have processed 12 individual birds (10 new and 2 retraps) with 7 of them being at Meadow Farm. Hopefully, as 6 of them were juvenile birds, this is a sign that they are doing well this year.

One interesting note is the lack of Blackcap, with only a single re-trapped bird. At this time of year, I would expect them to be coming though in good numbers. However, despite this, it was another very pleasing session for a site that continues to produce good varied catches.