A week on

The breeze has been quite strong this past week which curtailed ringing activity but some 200 newly ringed birds were added to the yearly total. Birds were predominantly Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler and Yellow Wagtail. Almost 70 Yellow Wags were trapped at roost. The total would have been a lot more but the female Sparrowhawk paid several quick visits one evening, dispersing the hundreds of Swallows and Sand Martins and then giving the Yellow Wags a bit of a wobble. Not too worry- the wagtails should be about for another week or so. They seem to have done remarkably well this year with regular roost counts at Abbotsbury of over 200 birds and apparently a similar sort of count at Radipole some evenings.

Catching roosting Swallows

With the month coming to a close the numbers of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps will slowly increase. With light winds forecast mid-week perhaps another couple of stabs at the Yellow Wagtails. Don't tell the Sparrowhawk!