Lovely day lovely birds!

 This morning dawned still and bright--would have liked a bit of cloud--but after all this rain it was a delight to be out without constantly looking skywards for heavy clouds.

To be honest the first round was disappointing and we thought we were in for a short visit, but things picked up and by close of net time we had ringed 86 new birds and processed 18 birds we had previously ringed at Belvide.

We had a strong team out with 4 trainees at different stages--so there was always something interesting and useful for them to further their knowledge and skills,

Most of the catch was, as expected, migrant warblers after they have bred on or near Belvide. I thought I would show this next picture because it shows very clearly the difference between juveniles of two species which aren't always easy to separate:-

At this age Chiffchaff ( left) and Willow Warbler (right) are pretty easy to identify. Willow Warbler juveniles at this time of year tend to be bright yellow on the breast and belly--with a bright, long, yellow stripe above the eye ( called a supercilium). No real need to describe the Chiffchaff because it is so different. Unfortunately they are not as easy to separate, when they are a bit older.