A few Phylloscopus warblers

As the title suggests the highlight was a small influx of Willow Warblers (Løvsanger, Phylloscopus trochilus) in the nets (all in the lighthouse garden nets for that matter). Bent and his family also arrived to experience some of the ringing activities.

Although we are used to seeing birds up close in the hand, once in a while it's nice to appreciate the feather detail close up and share it with our readers as we realise it may not be widely appreciated just how intricate and detailed each feather is. Below are some close up examples of contour feathers belonging to the head and body of a Chiffchaff (Gransanger, Phylloscopus collybita) and secondly a picture of the primary coverts of a 2nd calendar year Chiffchaff.

Chiffchaff (Gransanger, Phylloscopus collybita)

Chiffchaff (Gransanger, Phylloscopus collybita) primary coverts.

Once the rain set in during the late morning no more time was spent in the field. Instead, I cleaned, went food shopping and trawled through the sound recording files from last nights nocturnal sound recorder. Totals from this included: 2 Ringed Plover (Stor præstekrave, Charadrius hiaticula), 2 Greenshank (Hvidklire, Tringa nebularia), 3 Oystercatcher (Strandskade, Haematopus ostralegus), 1 Common Scoter (Sortand, Melanitta nigra), 1 Redshank (Rødben, Tringa totanus), and bizarrely a Swallow (Landsvale, Hirundo rustica) at 03:43am (perhaps a bird which had roosted under the eaves of the observatory)

Ringing: 3 Chiffchaff (Gransanger, Phylloscopus collybita), 8 Willow Warbler (Løvsanger, Phylloscopus trochilus), 1 Lesser Whitethroat (Gærdesanger, Curruca curruca), 1 Whitethroat (Tornsanger, Curruca communis), 1 Blackcap (Munk, Sylvia atricapilla), 1 Garden Warbler (Havesanger, Sylvia borin), 1 Chaffinch (Bogfinke, Fringilla coelebs).

People: Bent and Samuel.