gryllosblog   Gryllo's (aka Ian Lewis') blog. All things to do with travel, wildlife especially birds, history, architecture and anything else that interests me.

A two days in one post (to try and catch up) Been ringing both mornings, Lytchett Bay on the 14th and Durlston on the 15th.

The reed bed season is drawing to a close, although we need to maintain twice weekly reed bed sessions until the end of the month to fulfil our Aquatic Warbler survey commitments. Acros are now in short supply and the majority of birds ringed at Lytchett came from the margins of the maize field, mainly Goldfinches and Chiffchaffs.

This is an adult Goldfinch undergoing the complete post-breeding moult. The blackish-grey rictal bristles and lack of red behind the eye indicate it is a female.

The wing of the same bird. The outer three primaries are unmoulted, the next is missing, the next is regrowing and the inner four have been replaced.

After a clear cold night with a very light easterly breeze we trapped a remarkable 235 birds at Durlston this morning. Fortunately we had a good number of ringers for the early morning at least. At times the garden has heaving with birds but this tailed off by about 0900.

Numbers may have been high but variety was low compared to say late August. Chiffchaffs predominated with 124 ringed, followed by 69 Blackcaps. Only one Willow was caught and just 6 Whitethroats. More unusual species, at least in the hand, included Woodpigeon and Lesser Whitethroat.

Too busy at Durlston today to stop for photos, just a quick shot of this Lesser Whitethroat was all I could manage.