New Year, new Chiffs

It's been a long time since we've blogged, but what better time to change that than New Year. Today was a rare calm day and despite not being very cold we decided to have a couple of hours at Gwennap Sewage Works anyway. The vagaries of ringing at sewage works is that we often only use the smallest size rings (AA) and today was no exception. In the two hours (and just three nets) we ringed 28 Chiffchaffs, including this very smart tristis Siberian Chiffchaff. Unfortunately we didn't recatch any ringed birds from last winter (when we ringed 44 Chiffchaff here), but once the colder weather arrives I'm sure we'll be catching more.

There were well over 40 Chiffchaff on site (and two Yellow-browed Warblers), so plenty more to keep us occupied on the next calm day. The bycatch wasn't too bad either: Firecrest, two Long-tailed Tits and the obligatory Wren.