brewood ringers

Some friends who ring in Sussex have developed a system where if someone brings back a 'good' bird--they keep schtum and hang it on a red peg. Much discussion then follows as to what it is etc etc. When we set the nets last night we had a red pegger--a young male Kestrel. These are very unusual in nets as their hunting technique is very different from that of Sparrowhawk. Even more strange was that the bird was in the botto shelf of a net between 2 bushes. During our main session this morning the weather was pretty near perfect and we caught over 100 birds of which 63 were new. % Blackcaps and 3 Garden warblers suggested their second broods are on the wing. Similarly the 13 Sedge and 16 Reed warblers were probably recently flegded and some new arrivals. Another 4 adult Willow warblers in moult added to the mysetry as to where these are from, and the final round turned up the second red peg bird in the form of this season's second Grasshopper warbler.