November 4th

We had an excellent morning's ringing at Reculver where that had been an overnight arrival of Chiffchaffs and crests. We saw 1 Yellow-browed Warbler, 30 Chiffchaffs, 1 Siberian Chiffchaff, 12 Goldcrests and 1 Firecrest.

Yellow-browed Warbler

Siberian Chiffchaff

Other birds we saw included 4 Cetti's Warblers, 54 Coot, 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Little Grebes, 3 Tufted Duck, 28 Lawings, 1 Snipe, 2 Common Buzzards, 2 Green Woodpeckers, 7 Shoveler, 74 Mallard, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 22 Gadwall, 2 Water Rails, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 Blackcap, 8 Pied Wagtails, 2 Sparrowhawks, 1,000+ Starlings flying W or feeding on the fields, 21 Lesser Redpolls, 1 Brambling, 28 Skylarks, 55 Chaffinches, 2 Grey Herons, 62 Fieldfares W, 1 Golden Plover, 1 Swallow, 1 Marsh Harrier, 10 Redwings, 12 Siskins and 2 Grey Wagtails.

Birds ringed 65: Goldcrest 8, Chiffchaff 18, Long-tailed Tit 3, Firecrest 1, Siberian Chiffchaff 1, Yellow-browed Warbler 1, Cetti's Warbler 1, Great Tit 2, Linnet 1, Blue Tit 5, Chaffinch 13, Robin 1, Blackcap 1, Goldfinch 2, Redwing 4, Song Thrush 2, Blackbird 1.

 We had a very interesting retrap of a Chiffchaff this morning. We had originally ringed it on 8th November 2020 and it has not been seen again until today . It seems likely that it is a wintering bird returning to its winter territory and it would be interesting to know where it had been breeding.