Barred Warbler at Long Nab. Photo by Steve Wignill.
Saturday was a rather frustrating day. Reports of scarce migrants seemed to be coming from the entire length of the Yorkshire coast, and there were seemingly common migrants too! However in the Long Nab area it was dreadfully quiet and the best I could manage after 5+ hours of bush bashing was a Stonechat and a few Chiffchaffs. Not very encouraging.
However, Sunday was of course another day and so I headed to the ringing site to try my luck. Whilst setting up the nets I wondered whether the effort would be worth it as the bushes still seemed pretty quiet and there wasn't a great deal of activity overhead. With two nets up I was pondering which recordings I should play in order to coax the birds in the direction of my nets. At this point I heard the harsh tacking calls of a Barred Warbler and that quickly answered my question. I set the recording going, went to erect a third net and then came back to check the net. Bingo! A cracking 1st winter Barred Warbler in the net. A few texts woke one or two local birders who were able to get to the site in time to see the bird before its release. Thanks to Steve Wignill for allowing me to use his photos here.
However, Sunday was of course another day and so I headed to the ringing site to try my luck. Whilst setting up the nets I wondered whether the effort would be worth it as the bushes still seemed pretty quiet and there wasn't a great deal of activity overhead. With two nets up I was pondering which recordings I should play in order to coax the birds in the direction of my nets. At this point I heard the harsh tacking calls of a Barred Warbler and that quickly answered my question. I set the recording going, went to erect a third net and then came back to check the net. Bingo! A cracking 1st winter Barred Warbler in the net. A few texts woke one or two local birders who were able to get to the site in time to see the bird before its release. Thanks to Steve Wignill for allowing me to use his photos here.
I managed to trap and ring a respectable 36 birds during the morning, with a good number of Goldfinches and Long-tailed Tits making up a large proportion of the catch. However, some Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests were also ringed. Other migrant action included a Brambling south and 4 that dropped in from high, plus a trickle of Redpolls heading south. All in all a productive morning!