brewood ringers

The heavens opened again this morning--but stopped by 4.30--leaving a still dull warm morning after a 5am start. Overall not a bad catch with 59 new birds ringed, including 14 Chiffchaff, 5 Willow warblers, a couple of whitethroat and some Reed and Sedge warblers. We opened the feeder net for the first time, but apart from a few Tree Sparrows it was fairly quiet. Major highlight of the day was a juvenile Grasshopper Warbler--only the second we have caught at the site--was this a youngster of those Groppers reeling away earlier in the year--we'll never know. The other isuue is the shortage of juvenile Blackcaps--only one today, whereas other ringers in the Midlands are reporting big numbers. We had plenty of apparently breeding birds this year so their absence is a bit of a mystery.