The first bird caught was a juvenile Woodpigeon, while setting the western nets. After getting a feel for the day after an initial roundand hearing some redpolls flying over, I stuck the Lesser Redpoll tape on by the F nets. This soon produced two Lesser Redpolls, followed by another on the next round. This used to be a staple species at my initial ringing training ground of Leith Hill but I've handled very few since so I was delighted. All were adults, and two were lovely pink males. Of the 19 birds caught in total, it was nice to catch two November Blackcaps (one a retrap) and a Chiffchaff, while four Goldcrests (two retraps) were more obviously late autumn fare. Often underrated, an adult male Chaffinch was another pleasing catch.
It was obvious that birds were seizing the chance to move after the relentless brisk southwesterlies with so much rain over the last couple of weeks. Being so clear, I was mainly hearing calls without being able to count flocks, and obviously I was ringing, but a couple each of Brambling, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer flew over, along with a single Golden Plover, a small flock of Crossbills and a trickle of redpolls, Siskins, Chaffinches, Skylarks, Pied/White Wagtails, Meadow Pipits and Linnets. A male and a female Peregrine tussled directly overhead, the male at least giving that fantastic gull-like chatter. Later, one of them was in pursuit of a flock of Woodpigeons, another species that was moving in good numbers today. Two Ravens came and went throughout the morning and towards the end there were singles of Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and Kestrel.
