6.47am

Dragged myself out of bed to get to Paxton for ringing at 4.50am... It was a lovely morning with a few nice things, including the first Nightingale I've ringed, juvenile Marsh Tit, Treecreeper, Song Thrush, Willow Warbler and Garden Warbler, loads of Robins, a couple of Reed Warblers and a Blackcap control (a bird ringed somewhere else).

I had to go to bed when I got home though.

photo taken with Canon Powershot A640

A tail of two Marsh Tits

This morning, the circumstances were finally right to get some more ringing done in the garden.

Conditions were not ideal - it's a bit windy today - but the weather has conspired against, well, everybody lately, and we seized the chance (tomorrow's supposed to be even worse).

Each time, we seem to have one species which outnumbers all others. It was Greenfinches last time (51 Greenfinches, 8 other birds), Blue Tits in February and January. And so it was again today: we caught 29 new Blue Tits and three 'retraps' that we'd ringed before!

Now, my fingers hurt from a thousand tiny perforations inflicted by the 'cute' little fellows. Most people think "Awww! A Blue Tit! How lovely!" It's just not true...

Next up were Great Tits, with 15 new birds, two retraps and one which seems to be a control. That's a bird ringed by somebody else, somewhere else. It's not likely to have come very far, but it'll be interesting to get the details in the near future.

It was also good to catch two Marsh Tits. I'd seen one unringed bird in the garden, furiously cacheing sunflower seeds; we caught one unringed bird and retrapped one of the three we caught back in January. Photos below.

Almost forgot to mention that the first Marsh Tit (and about four Blue Tits) was caught while we were still putting our net up - we were holding the other end of it!

Interesting that we did not catch any finches, though as I look out of the window now, there are a few Chaffinches and Greenfinches around.

So, the totals were:

• Blue Tit, 29 new, 3 retraps
• Great Tit, 15 new, 2 retraps, 1 control
  
• Coal Tit, 5
• Blackbird, 2
• Marsh Tit, 1 new, 1 retrap
  
• Wren, 1
• Dunnock, 1

which makes 61 birds, our second highest total ever.

A total of 327 birds have been ringed here in seven sessions since November 2007.

Scruffy tail of juvenile Marsh Tit (hatched this year)


Neater, broader tail of adult Marsh Tit
photos taken with Canon EOS 30D

Q: What's brown and goes 'pitchoo'?

A: Marsh Tit (OK, you already knew that).

Today we finally got some more ringing done in the garden (the first session was back in November 2007). We plied Derek with curry and Top Trumps and with the aid of a single mist net and some sunflower hearts, he caught a total of 47 birds this morning:

• Blue Tit, 16 ringed, of which only 5 had hatched last year - indicative of the poor breeding season this species had. Also 2 retrapped (ringed Nov 07)
  
• Great Tit, 8 ringed (of which 4 hatched last year); 1 retrap
  
• Chaffinch, 6 males ringed (though 3 females also around this afternoon - draw your own conclusions)
  
• Marsh Tit, 3 (one adult, two birds hatched in '08)
  
• Dunnock, 3
  
• Coal Tit, 2 ringed; 1 retrap
  
• Wren, 1
  
• Great Spotted Woodpecker, 1 female hatched last year
  
• Greenfinch, 1
  
• Starling, 1 relatively long-winged bird
  
• Robin, 1 retrap
  

The Great Spotted Woodpecker and Starling were spectacular to look at, but the Marsh Tits were the biggest surprise of the day. For a while we've been watching 'a' Marsh Tit coming to the birdfeeder, but then on Christmas Day we finally saw two at once. Today, we were pleased to catch one at the start, and then we found two in the net at the same time! 

Not sure what the sound of the day was. Maybe the 'tap, tap, tap' of the woodpecker on my index finger, or the horrible screeching it made to start with (no harm came to the birds - woodpeckers are noisy and tend to make a fuss). Or was it me going 'ow!' (and worse) as the Blue Tits nipped and hung onto the skin next to my fingernails?

Easier on the ear were the hooting Tawny Owls I heard when I [quickly] opened the window before going to bed. I did try that just after midnight on New Year's Day, but all I could hear were distant volleys of fireworks. And it was flipping cold outside, so I retreated.

Everyone knows that Tawny Owls go 'tuwhit, tuwhoo' (or words to that effect). The hooting ('tuwhoo') is the male owl, and the 'tuwhit' or 'kewick' is the female responding (what came first, the tuwhit or the tuwhoo?). 

Tawny Owls will be starting to breed anytime now; in fact, we heard a young Tawny calling at Swiss Gardens just after Christmas. 

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640