By Thomas Weston
My day started at 4am this morning, a slight glow in the sky and the sounds of the Millcombe Song Thrush, plus a rather active Swallow filled the air as I disturbed from my sleep. The original (non-bird) alarm was set a little later and I was up, washing up by 5am so everything was ready for the morning. I then headed down to Millcombe in the first really nice sunshine we have had for a while. It was also quite warm to start and by 6am I had the nets open.
Millcombe woke up. The session was quite quiet to begin, though a Spotted Flycatcher flying around the Gas Store was a highlight. There were 10 birds caught, ringed and/or processed today: 3 new Linnets, including a stunning adult male; our breeding pair of Blackcap with the female being new and the male caught earlier in the Spring; a new juvenile Chaffinch fully fledged and ready to go; a retrap breeding Goldfinch and a retrap breeding Dunnock. The highlight for me are always the lesser know and lesser appreciated birds so the new juvenile and retrap adult Wren were pretty good highlights. Even more so, we found it’s nest! A rather artistic looking one and one we will record for the BTO Nest Recording Scheme in due course.
I packed up around 10am, as it got a little too warm to be sat in the blaring sun. I came back to the office, completed some of the Bird Day admin, inputted the ringing data, and before I knew it, it was lunch time already.
The Conservation Team met up in Barton’s Field with the aim to catch the presumed moulting Mallards, however little to our knowledge but the ducks had not started moulting and flew off as soon as we got there. The ducklings were no where to be seen and the temperature rose more so we all headed off a little hot but alright. The butterflies and moths out today were nice to see, a walk around Millcombe in the afternoon yeiled two broods of fledged Willow Warblers, with another brood reported to have fledged at the Terraces too! On dropping off the ringing book, I took it a little steadier ahead of my Tavern shift covering for a poorly member of staff.
Eleanor and I worked together, had dinner together and decided a summer solstice walk was needed. We walked through Millcombe and found 3 Pipistrelle Bats and heard the first jumping Guillemot chick, a sign of things to come and a weirdly seasonal change as we head into midsummer/ ornithological post-breeding/autumn!