Tea Clipper conditions!!

 The team turned out this morning to be met by a cloudless sky and a fresh north westerly wind--not far off the worst possible conditions for ringing!! The wind from this direction makes the nets billow out just like the old tea clippers' sails in a fresh wind. The bright sun rounds things off by making the billowing nets shine like a set of curtains--it's a wonder we caught anything at all.

However, it wasn't all bad news because out of the 25 new birds we ringed, all but two were juveniles-adding to the feeling that the products of the breeding season are at last coming on the scene. Chiffchaffs again were most numerous with 7 followed by 5 Reed Warbler, 4 Sedge and one juvenile Garden Warbler.

We have been waiting for this latter as there are several pairs in the area so we hope the other juveniles will be ringed in the next week or so. Garden Warblers are one of the least colourful of our birds as you can see--but nevertheless they have a certain style!

Garden Warbler-- a subtle beauty!

Two other highlights were a juvenile Song Thrush and a juvenile Tree Sparrow. The first picture below is of the head of the juvenile Tree Sparrow--showing the juvenile features in contrast to the adult features shown in my last post-copied again here.

This juvenile has a small grey ear spot and a somewhat paler grey brown rather than chocolate brown cap. I've copied the adult Tree Sparrow head below for easier comparison:-

Let's hope we have better luck at the weekend.......