A cracking double effort day today with Tim Bagworth on one of his few days off, ringing at Aylmer Avenue whilst George was over at the Observatory and was joined by a couple of visiting ringers in the shape of Observatory Team Member - Adrian Blackburn and his friend Jackie Lawrence.
Being triple crewed at the Observatory paid dividends with 121 birds processed at the Obs including 120 New birds and just 6 Retraps! At Aylmer Avenue, Tim processed 101 birds including 91 New birds and 10 Retraps.
The combined catch was a grand total for the day of 230 birds processed including 214 New birds and just 16 Retraps! making a Retrap to New birds ratio of just less than 8% which is very impressive for a site where ringing is carried out nearly daily!
The days catch was made us thus (New/Retrap) - (1/0) Sand Martin, (68/0) Swallow, (1/0) House Martin, (3/0) Dunnock, (1/0) Robin, (1/0) Redstart, (1/0) Sedge Warbler, (2/0) Lesser Whitethroat, (20/5) Whitethroat, (2/0) Blackcap, (1/0) Chiffchaff, (57/0) Willow Warbler, (6/4) Blue Tit, (0/3) Great Tit, (2/0) Magpie, (2/3) Chaffinch, (37/1) Greenfinch, (8/0) Goldfinch and (1/0) Linnet.
Perhaps the most impressive figure of the day were the 57 New Willow Warblers and not a single Retrap! I always say that the peak Willow Warbler influx at Gib is between the 10th and the 14th August, so this total is bang on cue!
The Redstart is the first one of the year and just one day later than last year.
Hopefully these sort of days at Gib will be repeated often over the next few months!
