CES 8 at Priory

A good day - despite the weather. Sunny intervals but increasing cloud and gusty winds.
A total of 38 birds of 11 species and just 8 retraps.

1J Wren with bright gape and dull eye

Blue Tit 1 juv
Long-tailed Tit (1) - this individual was ringed as a 3 in August 2007
Chiffchaff 3 (1) - all juvs
Garden Warbler 2 (1) - the male retrap is from early 2008
Blackcap 10 (1) - today's surprise package!
Whitethroat (3) - all moulting adults
Sedge Warbler 1 - another juv (2 days running!)
Reed Warbler 2 juvs
Wren 3 (1) - includes a 1J
Blackbird 7 - 6 juvs and a 2cy, all males
Dunnock 1 juv - no adults today, our staple diet here

We were chatting to Dave Kramer about records sent in by birders and how different things (especially colours) can be perceived and described by different people. As an example, see the Chiffchaff below ....
The same Chiffchaff photographed from two different angles.
One 'brown' while the other is 'green'.

There were plenty of butties on the wing today, including quite a few newly emerged Gatekeepers ...
several Commas ...
... and Red Admirals, too. The Creeping Thistles also had several species of bumblebee feeding on them, together with a soldier bettle sp.

The Whitethroats were in heavy moult, a sign that they had finished breeding for this year.
Primaries 1 & 2 completing, primary 3 sprouting & primary 4 still pushing through. Moult score = 11 (4421000000)

Four more CES sessions left; they should produce many more young birds and maybe some "old friends".