Lesser Redpoll recovery.

Having rung 157 Lesser Redpoll at Thornton this autumn it was great to get a recovery of one of them retrapped in The Netherlands. Y473221 was caught on the 9th October. It was then retrapped at National Park de Groote, Asten, Noord-Brabant, about 10km east of Eindhoven. This is a movement of 508km in 48 days. This is a typical migration route for this species, south east to the low countries.

Second Med. Gull.

An adult Med. gull was in the roost on Saturday. This is the second for the autumn, the first being a first winter. Sorry for the pitiful photo. The eclipse male Pintail and juv. Whooper are still present and Dave had a Little Egret, also on Saturday.

Bird numbers increase as fishing stops.

Sunset over Thornton.

With the end of the trout fishing season the numbers of wildfowl are increasing and I am confident that a rarity will appear before the years end. There were 188 Lapwing, 60 Wigeon, 50 Teal, 40 Gadwall and 4 Shoveler. The Pintail and juv. Whooper are also still off Wood bank.

Second Winter Med. Gull.

A couple of poor shots of yesterdays Med. Gull. in the failing light.

New patch record!

Today I broke my Thornton patch year record. On the 12th Nov. I had reached 123 with Peter the Pintail, who along with Harold the Whooper did the decent thing and stayed around for todays Webs count. I had reached this total last year, but this afternoon I went to 124 with a second winter Med. Gull. Dispite the early fog Dave and I were able to do a reasonably accurate count. Wigeon numbers were up at 55 as were Teal, 54 and Gadwall, 28. There were also 63 Lapwing.

Common Redpoll.

At last a Common Redpoll caught today. See the Charnwood Ringing group site for more images.

Carduelis flammea has paler tips to the G.C., and is greyer than Lesser Redpoll, C. cabaret.

I managed to see Harold the Whooper out of the water for a few moments. He is not rung, but does have two legs!

Redshank elegance.

Two Redshank were present today feeding around the lake margins.

Looks abit odd in this photo, but it is a Redshank.

The juv. Whooper is also still present although it was seen to fly off at 5pm yesterday in the direction of Groby pool. Today the Mute Swans seemed to be giving it less grief.