Siskin movement

This mornings birding was a ringing session in the garden which turned up a few new birds for the winter. We started with a couple of House Sparrows, Chaffinches and a Dunnock but things were rather quiet to say the least.

A single Redpoll taunted us from the top of a tree but a couple of female Siskins ignored us and flew straight into the top net. A little later, a couple of males came to the feeders and one (an adult) obligingly dropped into the net whilst all other birds avoided it (the wind was picking up and it was rather billowing!) Mark had had a few Siskins at his place during the week so there's clearly something going on.

First-winter male Reed Bunting

We trapped a few new Long-tailed Tits as well as re-trapping another three. A final round succeeded in capturing a juvenile male Reed Bunting as well as our only Blue Tit of the morning - a re-trap from a few years ago. Not one Coal or Great Tit came near the trapping area all morning!

First-winter female Bullfinch

I received a message from Kane Brides regarding the Coot on Rishton Reservoir. It was ringed as a young male at the end of 2010 at Southport Marine Lake, was seen at Ormsgill Reservoir at Barrow in August 2011 and at Rishton from late January.