RINGING UPDATE

Ringing & Sightings

Click  here to get the list  of the birds ringed from 1980 onwards.

January 2012 Sightings
29th January 2012 Dave Riley was ringing on No1 bed on the Saturday, catching 39 birds, 18 new, including the first Willow Tit of the year for the bed, along with six Reed Buntings, amongst the retraps was a Greenfinch, originally ringed in Phil Guest"s garden at Birchwood. Sighings from the bed included three Snipe and four Redwing.

Mike Miles managed to put a couple of sheltered nets up on the Friday afternoon, catching eight birds, including their first Woodpigeon of the year, while on the Saturday morning he was joined by Kieran, Lisa and Jason, when, in near perfect conditions, they caught 97 birds, 54 new, including their first Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldfinch, Lesser Redpoll and Willow Tit of the year, three new Linnets was also an excellent catch. Sightings on the bed included 10 Redshanks, circling over the bed (the biggest flock for a number of years), Water Rail, Greylag Goose, 30 Linnets and 20 Lesser Redpolls.

22nd January 2012 As a result of the strong winds, there was no ringing on No1 bed this week, and just two birds caught on No3 bed, both female Tawny Owls, last years bird and a new one, caught while checking nest boxes. The only sighting of note in the strong winds, was five Mute Swans.

15th January 2012 Dave Riley was on No1 bed on the Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday (joined by Ron Brumby on the Saturday), catching a total of 83 birds, 44 new, amongst the retraps were two visitors from No3 bed, a Chaffinch and a Greenfinch. Greenfinches in particular are using the feeding station in reasonable numbers, with 24 ringed along with seven Chaffinches.

Mike Miles was on No3 bed on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday (joined by Kieran, Margaret and Jason on the latter day), catching a total of 123 birds, 60 new, including 26 Greenfinches, seven Reed Buntings and a Linnet, their second of the year after catching none during 2011.

Sightings included: No1 bed, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest (10th), 28 Lapwings (14th), 20 Lapwings and 1 Green Woodpecker (15th)

No 3 bed, 2 Snipe (11th), 1 Ruddy Duck and 30 Linnets (13th), 1 Tawny Owl and 2 Shelduck (14th).

8th January 2012 A quiet start to the New Year, with Dave Riley on No1 bed on the Friday morning, catching 30 birds, with 13 new, including a Lesser Redpoll, while the team on No3 bed were concentrating mainly on ride and nest box maintenance, but had the opportunity to put a couple of nets up, catching 31 birds, with six new, including a Linnet, a good start to the year, considering they did not catch any during 2011.

Sightings included good numbers of wildfowl on No2 bed, a Woodcock on Butchersfield, six Linnets, two Buzzards and a Woodcock on No3 bed.

December 2011 Sightings
31st December 2011 Nothing special on the ringing front, other than a Lesser Redpoll caught on No1 bed. Sightings were also restrictive, with a Tawny Owl on No3 bed and a singing Chiffchaff on No1 bed, a very unusual record, the earliest I have ever heard one singing is mid-March, when the returning birds begin to appear.

17th and 24th December 2011 The inclement weather has reduced the ringing to a minimum recently, with Dave Riley getting out just once over the fortnight, on 22nd, catching 26 birds, with the 12 new including four Chaffinches.

Two sessions took place on No3 bed during the fortnight, with Mike Miles out on 17th, catching 34 birds with 11 new, while Kieran was out on 22nd and 24th, catching 51 new, with the highlight being their second Jack Snipe of the year, along with 12 Reed Buntings.

Sighings were from No1 bed and included small numbers of Greylag Goose, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Redwings, Fieldfare, 30+ Blackbirds and two Lesser Redpolls.

10th December 2011 With the recent bad weather having stopped any ringing for the previous two weekends, teams were out on bed nos 1 and 3 over the weekend.

Dave Riley was joined by Ron Brumby on No1, catching just seven birds, with a Chiffchaff being the star bird.

The team on No3 bed managed to deploy eight nets catching 43 birds with 18 new, including a Great Spotted Woodpecker and 3 Blackbirds.

Sightings were restricted to a Snipe on No1 bed and 3 Snipe on No3.

November 2011 Sightings
19th November 2011 Dave Riley was ringing on the Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, catching 24 birds with 12 new, including the fourth Great Spotted Woodpecker of the year on the bed, along with 4 Lesser Redpolls, a Woodcock bounced out of one of the nets. Sightings included 2 Grey Partridge and another Woodcock which flew over the second barrier as he was leaving on the Thursday evening.

The team on No3 bed caught 35 new birds on the Saturday, including 15 Chaffinches, 3 Goldcrests and a Treecreeper. Sightings on the bed included 4 Woodcock and 2 Snipe.

12th November 2011 Dave Riley ringed on No1 bed on the Saturday morning, catching 20 birds, with the 17 new including 3 Lesser Redpolls and 2 Goldcrests, sightings during the morning included a Raven, and a small southerly passage of Skylarks (10).

The No3 bed team had an excellent morning, catching 90 birds, 66 new, including their second Cetti"s Warbler of the year and a male Teal, their first of the year, the 28 Chaffinches ringed was part of the flock utilising the winter feed crop, as were the 13 Greenfinches and 7 Reed Buntings.

David Bowman, Dave Steel and Les Jones, carried out a migration watch from Butchersfield at the east end of No1 bed, from dawn until midday, counting over 42,000 birds, the majority of these were Starlings, over 40,000, seen arriving from the east and dispersing to the mosses to the north of the reserve, other highlights included a Short-eared owl and a Nuthatch.

5th November 2011 With Dave Riley celebrating his exit from the workforce with a holiday in Norfolk the only ringing this week took place on No.3 bed. I ringed alone on Friday with 8 nets catching 57 birds (31 new and 26 retraps). The day was fairly humdrum with just a Goldcrest and 2 Lesser Redpolls to leaven the diet of Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Tits until 3pm when I went to the canopy net in the North Meadow and found a small tit flock including Woolston"s seventh Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. This bird, a first year male, was caught just 50 yards from where another first year male was caught at about the same time in 2010. There is a known breeding site just to the south of the Manchester Ship Canal opposite No3 bed and local juvenile dispersal of this essentially sedentary species seems the likely explanation of two birds in two years.

Today the team were out in force ( Kieran, Margaret, Lisa, Nicky, Jason, yours truly and Sam Bayley visiting from wildest Surrey). We ran 18 nets and caught 75 birds ( 39 new and 36 retraps ). The sacrificial crop is beginning to pull in the finches and about 150 Chaffinches were roving around plus smaller numbers of Reed Buntings and Goldfinches. We caught 3 of the latter which is exceptional on No3 bed. The male Blackcap had a fat score of one and is presumably attempting to winter. The retraps included last weeks Cetti"s Warbler.

Sightings included about 1,500 Pink-footed Geese moving east in 9 skeins, a curlew calling at first light, 12 Common Snipe and the first Jack Snipe of the winter period . A Water Rail was flushed at the end of one of the rides.

An interesting sighting from Thursday was of a Bittern in flight across the reed bed.

Michael Miles

October 2011 Sightings
29th October 2011 Dave Riley ringed on No1 bed on the Friday morning, catching 61 birds, 56 new, including 14 Goldcrests, 2 Meadow pipits, 1 Redwing, 2 Coal Tits and a Treecreeper. Sightings on the bed included 20+ Skylarks, 10 Fieldfare, 27 Jacdaws, 30+ Lesser Redpolls and 3 Siskins.

The Team on No3 bed were out on Saturday morning, catching 58 new birds, including the first Cetti"s Warbler of the year, an adult female, along with 1 Redwing and an excellent 15 Reed Buntings. Sightings here included a small passage of Redwings and Fieldfares.

22nd October 2011 Brief highlights included an adult Siskin on No3 bed, their first since 2002, along with 2 Redwings and 6 Lesser Redpolls, while on No1 the highlights included a Meadow Pipit and 7 Goldcrests.

Sightings included: No1 bed, 45 Lesser Redpolls and 132 Starlings flying north in 2 flocks - a species not often seen on the bed. No3 bed, a Buzzard low over the ringing hut and a small passage of Redwings, totalling around 100.

15th October 2011 There was no ringing at Woolston the previous weekend, because of the poor weather. Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were ringing on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon and caught 38 birds, 36 new, including 1 Meadow Pipit, 6 Lesser Redpolls and a single Goldfinch. Sightings on that day included, 1 Snipe, 237 Fieldfare, 33 Redwing, 30 Lesser Redpolls, 2 Siskin and a Little Grebe still present on the East Pool.

On the Saturday morning, Dave was joined by Stacey Whitely, catching a further 50 birds, 45 new, including the first Redwing of the year for the reserve, 1 Coal Tit and 1 Treecreeper. Greenfinches were on the move and 37 were caught over the two sessions. Sightings included 700+ Woodpigeons, 40 Skylarks, 110 Fieldfare, 40 Redwings and 3 Siskins.

Dave Bowman, Les Jones and Dave Steel carried out an excellent Migration Watch from Butchersfield tip, counting almost 8,000 birds, including 2 Crossbills and nearly 4,500 Woodpigeons.

1st October 2011 Dave Riley ringed on No1 bed for the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching 121 birds with 108 new, including 36 Greenfinches, 16 Lesser Redpolls, 13 Chiffchaffs and 8 Meadow Pipits, along with 3 Coal Tits. Sightings inluded 2 Tawny Owls on the Saturday morning.

Mike Miles ringed on No3 bed on the Friday afternoon, catching 6 new birds and on the Saturday morning, with Kieran Foster and Margaret Rawlings they caught a further 92 birds, with 78 new, warblers were represented by a Reed Warbler, 4 Chiffchaffs and 16 Blackcaps, while amongs the 16 Lesser Redpolls caught was a bird ringed on No1 bed the previous week. The main sighting on the bed was a group of 12 Grey Partridges seen by Kieran, while another bird was seen by Mike on the same bed at the same time. It must be many years since 13 Grey Partridges have been seen on No3 bed.

September 2011 Sightings
24th September 2011 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were on No1 bed on Friday, catching 77 birds, 68 new, including 21 Lesser Redpolls and 18 Chiffchaffs, Meadow Pipits were on the move and 3 birds were caught. The following day, afte a pleasant start, showers came in and restricted the ringing, although a further 51 birds were caught, 43 new, including a further 6 Lesser Redpolls and 7 Chiffchaffs, also another 2 Meadow Pipits found the net before the showers came in and stopped any movement.

Sightings on the bed included the following: Friday - 28 Lesser Redpolls, 1 Siskin, 14 Meadow Pipits, 13 Swallows (all south), Green Woodpecker and 50+ Reed Buntings came in to roost. Saturday - 68 Lesser Redpolls, 42 Meadow Pipits, 6 Swallows, 5 Skylarks (all south) and 1 Tawny Owl.

On No3 bed, Mike Miles and Margaret Rawlins went ringing on the Tuesday, unfortunately the rain stayed longer than predicted, until 11am, by which time Margaret had left. During the afternoon, Mike caught 69 birds, 46 new, including 40 Greenfinches, single Goldfinch and Goldcrest along with a control Chiffchaff.

Sightings on the bed included a fly over Crossbill, 100 Greenfinches and 30 Chaffinches.

17th September 2011 With Dave Riley still becalmed on Fair Isle the only ringing at Woolston this week took place on No 3 bed. Michael Miles went to Woolston yesterday afternoon to put up some nets but work came to an abrupt halt at 4pm when the heavens opened. This morning Margaret, Kieran, Hugh, Jason, Jake and Michael gathered at about 5.30 but nets were not opened until the rain stopped about 6.15. Thereafter it remained dry but breezy and, in the conditions the catch of 86 birds (68 new and 18 retraps) was a good result. traditionally this is "Meadow Pipit Weekend" and we did try but did not see or hear any over the bed. Two Goldcrests (our second and third of the year), are probably our first immigrants of the year.

Sightings were restricted to two Green Sandpipers and two Marsh Harriers.

10th September 2011 With Dave Riley still ensconced on Fair Isle and ringing today cancelled in the light of the weather forecast, the only ringing at Woolston this week took place yesterday on No 3 bed. Michael Miles spent yesterday afternoon strimming and ran just 2 nets catching a handful of birds in the warm windy sunshine. Kieran and Jason appeared early evening and we had a go at the Swallow roost. The roost remains about 600-700 birds (although, as we know from ringing, the turnover is very high) but they came down pretty much on top of the net and we took a nice catch of 62 Swallows and a Sand Martin.

Sightings were restricted to a Green Sandpiper although up to 4 have been recorded in the last few days. The juvenile Hobby has been recorded all week but did not show yesterday evening

3rd September 2011 With Dave Riley ensconced on Fair Isle ringing was restricted to number 3 bed where the team netted the Swallow roost on Tuesday and Friday and had ringing sessions on Wednesday and Saturday. The result was 330 captures ( 285 new and 45 retraps). New birds included 90 Swallows, 79 Blackcaps and 37 Reed Warblers as well as 2 new Willow Tits. Main excitement on the observation front was a Hobby which entered the net on Tuesday evening but extracted itself as Kieran and Jason rushed towards it.

August 2011 Sightings
27th August 2011 The showery weather reduced the ringing opportunities over the weekend, with Dave Riley managing just three hours on No1 bed on the Friday, catching 11 birds, all new, including 2 Garden warlers and 5 Chiffchaffs. The Saturday morning was almost as bad, mainly using two nets, he and Stacey Whiteley caught 28 birds, 27 new, including anothe 5 Chiffchaffs, 1 Sedge Warbler and 5 Blackcaps. Out of the 38 new birds ringed, 27 were warblers. Sightings on the bed included male Sparrowhawk, Green Woodpecker and over flying Tree Pipit.

The No3 bed team had better luck on the Sunday morning, catching 96 new birds, with a high number of Blackcaps (49) amongst them. Other new birds included 8 Reed Warblers, 3 Whitethroats, 3 Sedge Warblers and 2 Willow Tits.

Other sighting on the reserve included 250 Gadwall (21st) on No3 along with 100+ Common Blue butterflies on No1 bed, up to 2 Green Sandpipers during the week, 4 Ruff, Hobby, Greenshank on the loop, female type Marsh Harrier, 142 Shoveler and 53 Teal.

20th August 2011 Dave Riley, Zoe Houghton and visiting ringer, Sam Bailey, ringed on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon, catching 57 birds, 48 new, including 2 Garden Warblers along with good numbers of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps. They were joined in the evening by Alan Hitchmough and managed to catch 75 hirundines including 67 new Swallows, 6 Sand Martins and 2 British control Swallows.

The following morning, a further 65 birds were caught, 58 new, including their fourth Grasshopper Warbler of the year and their second Great Spotted Woodpecker, along with a British control Blackcap.

Sightings on the bed included 600+ Swallows, Peregrine, Green Woodpecker (all Friday), 2 Tree Sparrows, Tree Pipit, Yellowhammer, and Hobby.

Another week of generally favourable weather if you picked your times. Kieran Foster and Mike Miles ringed No3 bed on Wednesday morning in pretty much ideal conditions catching 132 birds (112 new and 20 retraps). This catch included their first Goldcrest of the year, a juvenile far enough through its post-juvenile moult to confirm it as a female. There had evidently been a good sized roost on Tuesday night because they caught a Sand Martin and two Swallows at dawn without the aid of a lure. Otherwise the highlights were the continuing numbers of warblers, with Blackcaps beginning to peak as the elderberry crop ripens.

Mike spent Friday afternoon setting nets and doing a few chores and Kieran joined him for a go at the roost. A respectable mixed flock of about 600 Swallows and Sand Martins formed up and they took a nice catch of 62 Swallows containing only two adults. Their inability to connect with the Sand Martins remains a puzzle.

With Kieran on his way to Ireland, on Saturday morning Mike was joined by Margaret and Jason. Conditions were not as good, with bright sun and a little too much wind but they managed 112 birds (85 new and 27 retraps), the three Garden Warblers took them to 36 for the year to date. This is their highest annual figure beating last year"s 34. Two of these Garden Warblers weighed over 23 gm with a fat score of 5. These are their first really "fat" migrants. The catch also included their second Lesser Whitethroat of the year and a retrapped Willow Tit that was originally ringed on No1 bed.

The week ended with 333 captures (276 new and 57 retraps).

13th August 2011 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were ringing on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon, catching 58 birds, with the 49 new including 2 Garden Warblers. On the Saturday morning Dave was joined by Stace Whiteley and caught a further 44 birds, with 37 new. Over the two sessions, good numbers of Willow Warblers (21), Chiffchaffs (14) and Reed Warblers (11) were caught, while a Goldcrest, originally ringed in June was retrapped.

Sightings on the bed included a Black-tailed Godwit, 1 Nuthatch, 500+ Swifts and 30+ Chiffchaffs.

With the weather unpredictable ringing was not as extensive on no3 bed as in recent weeks. Kieran Foster and Mike Miles tried for Swallows on Tuesday night but it was a case of "nice try but no cigar" as the roost came in about 30 metres from their nets and they ended with 3 Swallows and a Reed Warbler. The forecast said rain Wednesday morning so they did not leave any nets set . In the event it would have been dry if a bit breezy. On Friday Mike did his usual routine of setting nets for the following morning and using just a few of them for the afternoon. In 4 nets he caught 51 birds including another Garden Warbler. Kieran joined him early evening and they tried again for Swallows with more success catching 27 juvenile Swallows and 1 Sand Martin. On the Saturday morning they were joined by Danny and, with just 3 of them ran a restricted number of nets in ideal conditions. They ended with 136 birds. The 114 new birds included 92 Warblers including 4 more Garden Warblers and their first Lesser Whitethroat of the year. Also notable were a new juvenile Willow Tit and a juvenile Coal Tit. They ended the week with 219 captures (177 new and 42 retraps).

Sightings were restricted to a Black-tailed Godwit on the Morgan Scrape and 60 Swifts over the bed on Tuesday evening.

6th August 2011 Dave Riley was on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon, when the breeze restricted the catch to 32 birds, 22 new, with the majority after 18.30. He was joined the following day by Stacey Whiteley and a further 45 birds were caught with 38 new. Overall, good numbers of Reed Warbler (19) were ringed, along with Willow Warbler (12) and Blackcap (9), along with 2 Garden warblers. Sightings on the bed included Water Rail and Green Woodpecker.

On No3 bed, it was another big week of generally favourable weather. Ringing took place on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday resulting in 394 captures (327 new, 66 retraps and one British control Reed Warbler). Totals were boosted on Friday evening with their first successful roost catch. A flock of about 500 Swallows formed over the bed and happily came down pretty much right on top of the net. We ended with 101 new Swallows, 3 new Sand Martins and a retrap Swallow that they ringed as a 3 in the roost on 21st August 2010. Other highlights were within the 168 new warblers ringed.

The only sighting of note on the bed was a Hobby hunting the roost on Friday evening.

July 2011 Sightings
30th July 2011 Sam Bailey, a visiting ringer from Sussex, joined Dave Riley on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching a total of 166 birds with 147 new. Good numbers of warblers were still present, with high totals of Reed Warbler (33 new), Whitethroat (17), Chiffchaff (18) and Willow Warbler (21), Blackcaps were noticeable by their absence with only 2 new birds ringed. Other highlights included single Kestrel (the second this year), Goldcrest and Linnet, while the two Swallows were the first of the year and a single Garden Warbler was a fitting end to the session. Sightings on the bed included an adult and three young Water Rails, 1 Little Egret, 1 Peregrine, 1 Green Sandpiper and two Tawny owls.

Another week of favourable weather and the team on No3 bed took the opportunity to make the most of it. Ringing took place on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday resulting in 304 captures (256 new and 48 retraps.) Of the new birds 171 were Warblers. They have now passed 200 new Reed Warblers and future catches depend on the quality of passage. Blackcap captures are also picking up with the best weeks still to come. The Warbler event of the week was the arrival of Garden Warblers with 12 new birds caught in the week (7 from the same net). Other highlights included their first Moorhen of 2011 and Swallow. On the Friday evening they targeted a Sand Martin roost of about 200 birds without success but Kieran found a few Swallows roosting near one of his net rides on Saturday morning and trapped one juvenile as it left the roost.

Sightings included 4 Crossbills flying east up the line of the Mersey on Saturday morning, 2 reeling Grasshopper Warblers, 2 calling Water Rails and, from the loop of No 4 bed, 2 Green Sandpipers, 3 Little Egrets and a Crake sp., probably a Spotted Crake.

23rd July 2011 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were ringing on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon, catching 60 birds with 45 new, while on the Saturday morning, he was joined by Stacey Whiteley, on her first visit as a helper, catching a further 65 birds including 60 new. Of the new birds, 67 were warblers, including 20 Willow Warblers, 19 Reed Warbers and 13 Chiffchaffs, along with scarcer species such as 2 Garden Warblers and single Treecreeper and Coal Tit.

Sightings on the bed included 60 Swifts, 20 Swallows, 1 Siskin and 3 Water Rails.

With the juveniles out in force and generally favourable weather the team on No3 bed made the most of conditions during the week. On Wednesday, Kieran and Mike were joined by Brian Hopkins visiting from Preston. We ran 19 nets catching 150 birds (95 new and 55 retraps). New birds included 20 Reed Warblers and the retraps included two control Reed Warblers, one British and one French, they also caught two new Jays.

On Friday Mike went to Woolston to set nets for Saturday morning and caught 49 birds (24 new and 25 retraps). Kieran came down early evening to set more nets and they tried for Hirundines, but there were only a hand full around. Saturday morning they were joined by Margaret, Lisa and Jason, catching 199 birds (129 new and 70 retraps). A further 51 new Reed Warblers brought them to 71 for the week. The 105 total captures in just a part of one of the 4 beds at Woolston gives some hint at the population in total across the reserve. As it is now the third week in July it is possible that the first migrants are reaching Woolston from sites further north. They also caught 2 Garden Warblers. They ended the week with 369 captures (248 new and 121 retraps)

Sightings included a Black-tailed Godwit on the Morgan scrape on Friday, 60 Swifts over the South Meadow Friday Evening. On Saturday morning singles of Tawny Owl and Oystercatcher, a reeling Grasshopper Warbler and a calling Nuthatch, a rarity on No3 bed.

15th July 2011 With the weather forecast predicting heavy rain for the Saturday morning (and for once, correct), Dave Riley decided ringing on the Friday morning was the better option, he caught 67 birds of which 64 were new and included 46 warblers of six species, of the remaining 18 new the highlights included seven Bullfinches and two Willow Tits. Sightings on the bed included a few Lesser Redpolls flying over and a Water rail calling from the Reed Bed.

Mike Miles had a midweek session on No3 bed, with Zoe and Jason, catching 112 birds with 71 new, including 17 Whitethroats, clearly the management work on the bed is suiting this species. Mike was also out on the Friday morning, catching a further 71 birds with 47 new, including a further six Whitethroats.

9th July 2011 The ringing was restricted to the Saturday morning, because of the weather.

On No1 bed, 77 birds were caught with the 61 new including 12 Willow Warblers and 11 Chiffchaffs. the team on No3 bed were also out, catching 152 birds with the 98 new including 21 each of Reed Warbler and Blackcap, one of the retraps was a female Sparrowhawk, originally ringed in 2009.

2nd July 2011 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton had an excellent ringing session on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon, catching 103 birds, with 81 new including the second adult male Redstart of the summer, this one in wing moult, they also caught their first Garden Warbler, Coal Tit and Linnet of the year along with two Sand Martins going to roost. The following morning, Dave was joined by Phil Guest, there was no wind and a further 57 birds were caught, with 43 new, including the first juvenile Grasshopper Warbler of the year and a further Coal Tit. Over the two days other highlights included 19 new Willow Warblers, 16 new Bullfinches (a record weekend catch for the bed), 3 Treecreepers and two Goldcrests. Sightings on the bed included 3 Oystercatchers, 1 Curlew, 2 Peregrines and 2 Siskins.

The No3 bed team were ringing on the Saturday morning, they caught 86 birds, with 50 new, including 10 Reed Warblers, 7 Whitethroats and 4 Sedge Warblers.

June 2011 Sightings
26th June 2011 Dave Riley had a Friday morning session on No1 bed, catching 38 birds, with the 28 new including the first Kingfisher of the year along with the first Lesser Redpoll (adult female with brood patch) for a few months. Mike Miles was also present on the Friday morning, working No3 bed and catching 87 birds, of which 40 were new. Amongst the retraps were 26 juvenile Great Tits and a Grasshopper Warbler, originally ringed on 30th April. Mike was Joined by Kieran and Lisa on the Sunday morning, catching a further 155 birds, with 109 new, amonst the many juveniles caught were Sedge Warbler, Coal Tit, Willow Tit and Treecreeper. There were no sightings of note.

18th June 2011 As the old saying goes "there are lies, damn lies and weather forecasts!" The forcast on Thursday evening predicted rain coming in from Friday morning and staying for the day, along with more rain and breezy conditions on the Saturday morning,as it turned out, the only rain on the Friday was a light shower at tea time. The forecast was a little better by late Friday. So Dave Riley set out for No1 bed, set up a few nets and caught 33 birds, 20 new, including the second juvenile Goldcrest of the year, and after last weekend glut, there was not a Blue Tit in sight!

The team on No3 bed made the same decision, and Kieran, along with Mike, Margaret, Lisa and Jason had set up a good number of nets by 5am, catching 169 birds (114 new) before the rain came in at 11am. The total included 26 new juvenile Great Tits that must have nested in natural cavities or were from the surrounding areas, as all the pulli from the nest boxes were ringed earlier in the year. Other highlights included their third Garden Warbler of the year, 17 Chaffinches and 5 Willow Tits.

11th June 2011 Dave Riley was joined by Zoe Houghton and Liz Kerr for the Friday, catching 89 birds with 64 new, with the highlight a stunning male Redstart, the first since 2009. More juveniles are moving around and it felt almost like old times when we had 20 Blue Tits in one net!

Dave and Liz were also ringing on the Saturday morning, when there was a slight ground frost before dawn. A further 51 birds were caught, with 30 new, including the first Nuthatch for two years and the first Kestrel since 2005. 3 juvenile Willow Tits were the first for the bed this year. The only sighting of note on the bed was a Water Rail

Michael Miles was on No3 bed on the Friday afternoon and was joined by Margaret and Jason for the Saturday morning session, catching 72 birds over the two days, with the 42 new including 2 juvenile Coal Tits and 3 Juvenile Willow Tits, sightings were restricted to a reeling Grasshopper Warbler on the Friday evening.

May 2011 Sightings
14th May 2011 Due to the forecast of breezy conditions over the weekend, Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton decided to ring on No1 bed on the Friday morning, catching 31 birds with 14 new, the highlights incuding a Grasshopper Warbler and 4 Reed Warblers along with a British control Reed Warbler. Sightings on the bed included the first two broods of Little Grebe and a second, reeling, Grasshopper Warbler, as well as a Marsh Harrier coming out of roost from the reed bed.

The team on No3 bed managed to find some sheltered net rides to use, and the total of 49 new birds included 3 broods of tits, amongst the highlights were 5 Sedge Warblers and 7 Reed Warblers. Sightings include 2 calling Water Rails and a reeling Grasshopper Warbler.

7th May 2011 Ringing took place on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with 45 birds caught, 29 new which included 23 warblers (5 Sedge, 2 Reed, 3 Whitethroat, 6 Blackcaps, 5 Chiffchaff and Willow warblers), other highlights included the first Great Spotted Woodpecker for the year on the bed. Sightings included Coot with one young, Oystercatcher both days, Water Rail, 2 Grasshopper Warblers and 1 Lesser Whitethroat, along with Large Red Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly and Broad-bodied Chaser.

The No3 bed team were active on the Saturday, catching 66 birds with 49 new, which included three broods of pulli. 15 warblers were ringed including 5 Sedge Warblers, 7 Reed, 2 Whitethroats and 1 Blackcap. Sightings on the bed included 2 calling Water Rails and a reeling Grasshopper Warbler.

April 2011 Sightings
30th April 2011 It was quiet a breezy session on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning on No1 bed, with the more sheltered net catching just 19 birds, the four new including the first Grasshopper Warbler to be ringed on the bed this year, along with singles of Robin, Dunnock and Willow Warbler. The team on No3 bed caught a further three new Grasshopper Warblers on the Saturday morning, along two Woodpigeons and singles of Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler and Great Tit.

Sightings included an Arctic Tern over No3 bed, Swift, Water Rail, Green Woodpecker and Greylag Goose all on No1 bed.

23rd April 2011 77 new birds were ringed over weekend, of which 46 were warblers. Sedge Warblers arrived in good numbers with 10 caught (3 No1 bed, 7 No3 bed), while the first Whitethroats (7) to be ringed this year were also caught.

Sightings of interest included Cuckoo, Swift, 3 Grasshopper Warblers, 1 Ring-necked Duck, 2 Garganey and a Black Tern, all on No3 apart from the RND which was seen by the weir. No1 bed contributed 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Grasshopper Warbler and 20 singing Reed Buntings.

2 weeks ending 16th April 2011 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton ringed No1 bed on the Friday afternoon (15th) and Saturday morning (16th), catching a total of 50 birds, the 23 new included their first Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Jays of the year. 14 different Willow Warblers were caught over the weekend and the oldest of eight retraps was originally ringed in 2007.

During the two weeks, there was four sessions on No3 bed, catching 129 birds, with 58 new including their first Grasshopper Warblers and Reed Warbler of the year. Amongst the other new birds ringed was an excellent 19 Blackcaps and a further eight Bramblings.

Sightings included Reed Warblers (from 12th), Whitethroats, Garden Warbler, Sedge Warbler (No1 bed, 16th), 2 Grasshopper Warblers (No3 bed), displaying Sparrowhawks (No2 bed) and Little Owl (No1 bed).

2nd April 2011 Just two sessions on No3 bed during the week, with Mike Miles down on the Wednesday, catching 32 birds with eight new including six Bramblings, while on the Saturday morning session, Kieran Foster and Margaret Rawlins caught another 19 birds, with the 12 new including the first Blackcaps (2) and Willow Warblers (2) of the year, along with a further three Bramblings.

Sightings on the bed included 2 Mediterranean Gulls and a Nuthatch (a Wooslton rarity!)

March 2011 Sightings
26th March 2011 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton ringed No1 bed on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching 51 birds, 14 new including 4 Lesser Redpolls. Sightings included 2 Sand Martins and 11 Chiffchaffs.

Zoe was also with Mike Miles on No3 bed on Wednesday, when they caught 31 birds, 17 new including 7 Bramblings and an amazing 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, possibly the first time this has happened in a day at Woolston! A further 4 Bramblings were among the 13 new birds caught on the Saturday morning (out of a total catch of 27), along with their first Chiffchaffs (3) of the year. Sightings on the bed included the first Swallow of the year, mixed in with the 85 or so Sand Martins, 2 Buzzards and 3 Black-necked Grebes.

19th March 2011 Dave and Zoe Houghton ringed on No1 bed on Friday, catching 25 birds, with 6 new, amongst the retraps was the first Chiffchaff of the year to be caught, a retrap originally ringed in July 2010. Liz Kerr joined Dave for the Saturday morning session, catching a further 15 birds, amongst the 6 new was a Chiffchaff, 1 Goldfinch and the first Willow Tit of the year. Sightings on the bed included 2 Chiffchaffs, 9 Buzzards, 1 Peregrine and 1 Oystercatcher.

Mike Miles had a session on the Wednesday, catching 43 birds with 13 new, including 2 Goldfinches, while the Saturday morning session ended with 43 birds caught, 14 new including 2 Reed Buntings and 1 Brambling. Sightings on the bed included, 1 Buzzard, 3 Redpolls, the first returning Black-necked Grebes and Sand Martins.

Non-avian sightings included a Pipistrelle Bat by the car park, and early Orange Underwing Moth on No3 bed and 2 Small Tortoiseshell Butterflies on No1 bed.

12th March 2011 Ringing took place on No1 bed on the Friday and Saturday, 37 birds were caught, of which the seven new included the first Moorhen and Siskin of the year. Amongst the retraps was a Reed Bunting originally ringed on 23rd August 2003. Sightings on the bed included 2 Snipe, Oystercatcher, Green Woodpecker and Peregrine.

Mike Miles was Joined by Zoe Houghton on the Wednesday, catching 27 birds with 13 new, including another 4 Bramblings. On Saturday, the ringing team spent most of the morning clearing felled willow branches, but found time to catch a further 22 birds, with eight new, including a Magpie in a potter trap. Sightings on the bed included 20 Bramblings and a Snipe.

5th March 2011 Sam Bailey and Zoe Houghton joined Dave Riley on No1 bed on Friday, with Liz Kerr replacing Zoe for the Saturday moring session. 63 birds were caught in total with 24 new which included the first Goldcrest of the year. A further three Goldcrests were amongst the retraps including one ringed as a juvenile in July 2010, while the other two were ringed as adults in October, I assume they are all birds returning to breeding sites nearby. Sightings on the bed included an escape Barn Owl, still wearing jesses, Woodcock and 2 Oystercatchers, including a displaying bird.

Michael Miles was on No3 bed on the Wednesday, catching 43 birds, 18 new, including seven new Bramblings, while the Saturday session produced just 14 birds with eight new including a Magpie in a potter trap. Sightings from the bed included 1 Snipe, 1 Woodcock, 2 Siskins, 2 Grelag Geese, 3 Redwings, 1 Coal Tit and an Oystercatcher.

February 2011 Sightings
26th February 2011 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were on No1 bed on Friday afternoon, catching 25 birds with five new, mostly Blue Tits. Amongst the retraps the only ones out of the ordinary were a Great Tit and a Blue Tit originally ringed on No3 last year. After a showery start on the Saturday they caught a further 23 birds with the seven new comprising three Reed Buntings and four Blue Tits. Sightings on the bed included 2 Greylag Geese, 1 Oystercatcher, 7 Fieldfare and a Siskin (all Friday), along with a male Yellowhammer on the Saturday morning.

Mike Miles had a solo session on No3 bed on the Wednesday, catching 33 birds, with 17 new including single Woodpigeon, Brambling and Goldfinch along with 7 Greenfinches. There was a full team out on the bed on the Saturday morning, with the earlier arrivals catching both Jack Snipe and Common Snipe, while later in the morning a Tawny Owl was caught in a next box, where it was roosting. It proved to be an adult female, the first free flying bird to be ringed at the Eyes since 2003, it quickly settled down again once placed back in its box. Sightings on the bed included the first Water Rail since the thaw set in along with the return of several hundred Black-headed Gulls.

19th February 2011 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were both on No1 bed on Friday afternoon, catching 43 birds including 7 new, the highlights of which were 2 Reed Bunting and their first new Greenfinch of the year. Amongst the retraps was a Great Tit ringed by Phil Guest at his home in Gorse Covert last year. The overnight rain had cleared by 8 o`clock on Saturday, leaving a calm, overcast morning, Dave and Zoe caught 34 birds with 11 new, including more Reed Buntings and their first Goldfinch of the year, amongst the previously ringed birds was a British control Reed Bunting.

On No3 bed, Kieran Foster and Lisa Warvill were out on Thursday morning and caught 42 birds, with 17 new, including another 2 Bramblings, bringing their total for the year to 35, as with No1 bed, Greenfinches have started to come to the feeders, resulting in 7 being ringed.

Sightings on No1 bed included an adult Mediterranean Gull, a Green Woodpecker and a Nuthatch, all Saturday morning, while a Jack Snipe, in front of the Linley hide, and 2 Siskins over the centre of the bed were seen on No3 bed.

12th February 2011 Dave Riley, Zoe Houghton and Ron Brumby ringed on No1 bed on the Friday, catching 37 birds, with 15 new, mainly Great Tits, but also including their first Lesser Redpoll and Reed Bunting of the year, a UK control Reed Bunting was also caught. The Saturday morning was somewhat quieter for Dave and Zoe, catching 14 birds with 4 new, two each of Blue and Great Tit.

The No3 bed team also had a quiet Saturday morning, catching 6 new birds, including the first new Greenfinches (finally) of the year.

The main sighting of the week was a Bittern, initially seen on No3 bed on the Sunday then on the Wednesday, flying from No2 bed before settling on No3 bed again. Other sightings included a very pale Buzzard on No bed, 5 Little Grebes on No1 with 3 trilling, a large late afternoon movement of gulls, including a minimum of 1200 Black-headed and 2 Fieldfare going to roost (all No1 bed, Friday) Sightings on the Saturday included (all No1 bed), 3 Siskins and a pair of Yellowhammers.

5th February 2011 No ringing took place on No1 bed during the two weeks, but the No3 bed team managed to get out on two occasions (29th Jan and 1st Feb), catching a total of 46 birds with 23 of those new. Highlights included another eight Brambling along with their second Coal Tit and Great Spotted Woodpecker of the year.

Sighings on the bed during the period included a pair of Pintails, in flight over the bed (29th Jan) with 20 Bramblings, 30 Greenfinches (a good flock, nowadays on the reserve), 80 Linnets and a leucistic Lesser Redpoll. The highlight of the year, so far, was the Bittern seen on the bed on Sunday 6th.

January 2011 Sightings
22nd January 2011 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were ringing on No1 bed on 21st, while Dave was on his own on the Saturday morning. 60 birds were caught with the 10 new including three Bullfinches and one of the retraps was their first Greenfinch of the year, while five Willow Tits were also retrapped.

Mike Miles had a brief ringing session on No3 bed on the 20th, catching 44 birds, amongst the 20 new were four more Bramblings and their fist Woodpigeons of the year (2). A further session, this time with a full team, on the Saturday morning, produced another 25 birds,with 12 new including eight more Brambling and their first Great Spotted Woodpecker of the year.

Sightings included one Coal Tit (No1 bed) and 50 Bramblings (No3 bed). Dave Bowman, Dave Steel Sue Haddock and Les Jones covered the reserve on the Saturday and their sightings included 250 Teal, 24 Redwing (No3 bed), 6 Goldeneyes (Weir) and 23 Stock Doves (Bollin Point).

16th January 2011 The weather on Saturday meant no ringing took place on the Eyes that day, but Mike Miles managed a brief session on the Thursday, catching 15 birds with six new, including three more Bramblings, while Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were on No1 bed for the Friday afternoon, catching 26 birds with seven new, including six Great Tits.

Sightings included 32 Coot and 14 Teal on MSC by No1 bed with 50 Linnets on the North Meadow of No3 bed, along with a large female Sparrowhawk harrassing a Buzzard. David Bowman and Les Jones braved the elements on Saturday morning, seeing some excellent birds, including 2 Little Egrets on the scrape, 65 Linnets on No3, a Kingfisher on No4, 14 Pheasants on No2 and 2 Peregrines on the viaduct.

9th January 2011 The wind was just a little too strong for ringing to take place on No1 bed, although the No3 bed team did manage to set a couple of nets in one of the more sheltered areas of the bed, catching 21 birds, of which 10 were new, including five Brambling, making that species the most ringing on the reserve this year!

Sightings were all from No3 bed and included an excellent flock of 67 Linnets on the North Meadow, a Woodcock and 2 Siskins, while a Skylark was heard giving a brief snatch of song.

2nd January 2011 Both teams were out on Sunday, with Dave Riley on No1 bed, catching 37 birds, but only 2 were new, including a first winter male Sparrowhawk and a Great Tit. Highlights amongst the retraps included a Treecreeper, originally ringed on 23/10/2009 and retrapped on 09/10/2010. 4 Willow Tits were retrapped including a bird originally ringed on 28/07/2006, while a second was ringed on 04/07/2009.

The No3 bed team of Kieran Foster, Mike Miles, Margaret Rawlins, Lisa Warvill and Jason Atkinson assembled on No3 bed to tackle some coppicing, while the three nets they erected caught 29 birds, with 14 new, including 7 Bramblings and a new Coal Tit (a second was retrapped in the same net, at the same time, possibly a unique event for No3 bed).

Sightings included (from No1 bed), 2 Goosander flying west, 250+ Tufted Duck disturbed off the MSC by a boat and 3 overflying Skylarks. No3 bed had a flock of 35 Linnets, an exceptional total for the bed.

December 2010 Sightings
31st December 2010 Mike Miles set up three nets on No3 bed for a short while on New Years Eve, catching 36 birds, with the ten new including 3 Brambling, 1 Linnet and another 2 Bullfinches. Amongst the retraps were 2 Willow Tits and 5 Long-tailed Tits, confirming that some of the smaller residents are surviving the harch weather.

Sightings from the same bed included 6 Redwings, 8 Redpolls and a mixed flock of 15 finches comprising Chaffinches and Bramblings, while Peregrine and Sparrowhawk were seen there earlier in the week.

19th December 2010 The vicious weather over the weekend cutailed any thoughts of ringing on the reserve, but Michael Miles managed to put up a couple of nets on the previous Tuesday, catching 31 birds, with 20 new, including another 5 Brambling.

Sightings were reduced to a minimum, although Dave Hackett did have an excellent count of 1500+ Tufted Duck around the reserve, mainly on the river, along with six Goosanders.

11th December 2010 A brief session on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon resulted in just two birds being caught, including a new Blue Tit weighing in at 12.8 grams and having a fat scoreof 4. The No3 bed team had a three hour session on the Saturday morning, catching 28 birds, including 2 Woodpigeons and 3 Bramblings.

Sightings included a Woodcock on No3 bed, along with 12 Siskins, while 47 Redwings and 18 Fieldfare were counted over No1 bed, as well as a group of 16 Coot together on MSC by the same bed. 9 Goldeneye were by the weir and there was an excellent reserve-wide count of 1,400 Tufted Duck.

4th December 2010 Dave Riley set just two nets on No1 bed, catching 26 birds of which just 3 were new, all Reed Buntings, while the No3 bed Team managed somewhat better, catching 45 birds, including 17 new, the highlights being their 14th Great Spotted Woodpecker of the year, 1 Brambling and their 6th Magpie.

No1 bed was frozen out, with the few sightings on 4th including 25 Linnets coming out of a roost, 4 Siskins flying south, 6 Cormorants flying west, 1 Great-crested Grebe also flying west and a Collared Dove (a rare visitor on No1 bed) flying south, a few Fieldfares also left their roost at first light.

There were few sightings from No3 bed, also, but included several small groups of Fieldfares moving around the bed and 10 Goldeneyes (7 males and 3 females) at Woolston weir.

David Bowman and Dave Steel braved the conditions and carried out a Migration Count/Watch from the top of Butchersfield Tip for five hours between 07.00 and 12.00, the results may be seen by clicking on the Bird Surveys link on the menu.

November 2010 Sightings
27th November 2010 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were ringing on No1 bed on both the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The first session resulted in 21 birds caught, but only 2 new, a Moorhen and a Goldcrest, while the Saturday morning produced 33 birds, with 10 new, including the first Fieldfare on the bed for a number of years and their third Siskin of the year. Sightings on the bed included 6 Siskins, 35 Fieldfare, 1 Green Woodpecker and a Coal Tit.

The No3 bed team were present on the Saturday morning, catching 45 birds, with 20 new, including 2 Redwings, 1 Brambling and 12 Chaffinch. Sightings on the bed included 5 Siskins and a Barn Owl, while 3 Goosanders were near the weir and 2 Long-eared Owls were on No2 bed.

For what must be the first time in many years, no Greenfinches (either new or retrap) were caught on either bed during a late autumn/early winter session.

20th November 2010 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were ringing on No1 bed on both the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching their first Redwing and Common Redpoll of the year, along with five Blackbirds. Sightings on the bed included a late Peacock butterfly, 3 Water Rails, 25 Skylarks, 23 Lesser Redpolls on the Friday, while passage noted on the Saturday morning included 90 Lapwings, 35 Skylarks, 25 Fieldfare, 23 Redwings and 16 Siskins.

Kieran Foster and Margaret Rawlins were on No3 bed on the Saturday morning, catching 57 new birds, the highlights being the first Cetti’s Warbler for the reserve this year, four Bramblings, six Blackbirds and 11 Reed Warblers. Sightings on the bed included 1 Water Rail, 2 Woodcock, 2 Tawny Owls, low numbers of Skylarks and Siskins moving south.

13th November 2010 The breezy conditions on Friday prevented Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton doing any ringing on that day, but the conditions on the Saturday morning were excellent, albeit too sunny. 67 birds were caught with 48 new and Lesser Redpoll taking the star place with 20 new birds ringed and a British control, the supporting cast included a male Siskin, 1 Coal Tit, 4 Goldcrests and 5 Reed Buntings. Sightings on the bed included 6 Water Rails, 100 Pink-footed Geese, 1 Tawny Owl and 1 Snipe.

Michael Miles had two 'minor' sessions during the week, catching 43 birds of which 19 were new, he was joined by six others for the Saturday morning session, catching 89 birds of which 54 were new. These included the first Bramblings (3) of this 'winter' period, other highlights were 8 Goldcrests, 6 Lesser Redpolls, 1 male Blackcap, 12 Chaffinches and 16 Reed Buntings. Sightings included 2 Snipe and a few Redwings.

6th November 2010 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton ringed on No1 bed on both the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The light showers on the first day restricted the catch of birds to 17 with the 6 new including a Lesser Redpoll. The weather on the Saturday morning was much better and 55 birds were caught with 31 new, including the first Siskin to be ringed on the reserve in 2010. A further 5 Lesser Redpolls were ringed, along with 3 Goldcrests, 5 Wrens and 5 Robins, while a British control Goldcrest was also caught. Sightings on the bed included 150 Pink-footed Geese flying east, 4 Water Rails 150 Fiedfare going to roost, 30+ Reed Buntings coming out of roost and a Tawny Owl. Southerly passage included 22 Skylarks, 6 Meadow Pipits, 7 Fieldfares, 50+ Redwings,18 Lesser Redpolls, 14 Goldfinches and 6 Siskins.

Kieran Foster and Mike Miles were on No3 bed on the Saturday morning, catching 64 birds with the 48 new including 4 Lesser Redpolls and 17 Chaffinches.

October 2010 Sightings
Two weeks ending 31st October 2010 With Dave Riley being away on holiday for 22/10 to 29/10, there was no ringing on No1 bed the for first weekend, he did, however have a Sunday morning session on 31st, catching 43 birds, 32 new, including a late female Blackcap, 4 Goldcrests, 1 Coal Tit and 2 Lesser Redpolls.

Mike Miles was joined by various members of the No3 bed team for five sessions over the two week period, catching 245 birds with 124 new. The highlights included the sixth Lesser Spotted Woodpecker to be ringed at the Eyes, the first two Redwings to be ringed this year, a late Blackcap, 6 Goldcrests, 2 Treecreepers, 8 Lesser Redpolls and an amazing 14 Bullfinches, the biggest surprise, however, was the capture of 1U5888, a Long-tailed Tit, originally ringed as a juvenile on 4th June 2002, if the bird survives beyond mid-February 2011 and is caught after that date, it will become the oldest Long-tailed Tit in the entire ringing scheme database!

Sightings were few and far between, with 60 Chaffinches on the No3 bed winter feed crop, while sightings from No1 bed on 31st included: 1 Barn Owl, 1 Tawny Owl and one Peregrine, birds moving south included 113 Redwings, 27 Fieldfares, 24 Skylarks, 1 Pied Wagtail, 7 Meadow Pipits, 8 Lesser Redpolls and a Siskin.

16th October 2010 Dave Riley managed a three hour session on Wednesday, catching a couple of Lesser Redpolls and 9 Long-tailed Tits. A retrap Jay that was ringed five years ago was caught for the the first time since 2005. Dave was joined by Zoe Houghton for the Friday and Saturday sessions, with the breezy conditions restricting the catch on the first day. The weather on the Saturday morning was excellent, although the slight frost at first light made opening the nets a little difficult. A total of 108 birds were caught over the two days, including another 11 new Long-tailed Tits, 8 Lesser Redpolls and 7 Goldcrests.Sightings on the bed included a Red Kite on the Friday afternoon along with a Yellowhammer, while 990 Pink-footed Geese flew south-east in four skeins. Other birds moving south included 20 Skylarks, 4 Pied Wagtails, 2 Redwings, 34 Lesser Redpolls and 3 Siskins, while 17 Fieldfare flew north and 25 Lapwings, west.

Kieran Foster, Mike Miles and Margaret Rawlins were on No3 bed on the Saturday morning, catching 96 birds, 68 new, which included 13 Long-tailed Tits, their second Coal Tit of the year, 3 Song Thrushes and 9 Lesser Redpolls. Sightings included a few Redwings and late Red Admiral and Brown Hawker.

8th October 2010 Dave Riley was joined by Zoe Houghton and Sam Bailey for both the Friday and Saturday sessions, catching a total of 106 birds, 87 new, including 27 Greenfinches, 11 Blue Tits, 10 Lesser Redpolls, 8 Chiffchaffs and 5 Goldcrests. 4 different Treecreepers were caught, with only one new bird, although one of the retraps had been ringed on 23rd October 2009 and not caught since. Sightings on the bed included 6 Little Egrets (inlcuding a flock of 5), 2 Barn Owls, a juvenile Arctic Tern, 10 Redwings, 3 Siskin and 30+ Lesser Redpolls, there was also a small southerly passage of Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails.

Kieran Foster, Margaret Rawlins and Lisa Warvill ringed No3 bed on the Saturday morning, but the breezy easterly wind kept totals low, with 44 birds ringed, including 2 Reed Warbers (one with a fat score of 6!) and their first new flock of Long-tailed Tits for a while (11). Sightings on the bed included 1 Siskin, 1 Water Rail and a small southerly passage of Skylarks.

2nd October 2010 Dave Riley was joined by Zoe Houghton for the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. The rain on the Friday afternoon halted the ringing until 4 o'clock, when they managed to open four nets and caught 28 birds, 19 new, which included 5 Chiffchaffs and single Goldcrest and Lesser Redpoll. The weather on the Saturday morning was much better and 96 birds were caught, 83 new, including more of the above along good numbers of new Blue Tits (17 over the two days) and another flock of Long-tailed Tits. 6 Reed Buntings was an improvement over recent weekends and the 3 Reed Warblers are getting late. Sightings on the bed included 20 + Chiffchaffs and 2 Snipe on the Friday, while Saturday produced 50+ Lesser Redpolls, 50+ Skylarks, 2 Swallows, 1 Raven and a Nuthatch.

After setting and furling his nets on the Friday evening, Mike Miles was joined by Kieran Foster, Margaret Rawlins and Hugh Pulsford on No3 bed for the Saturday session, catching 104 birds, 70 new including a few Lesser Redpolls and Goldcrests as well as 16 Blackcaps and 7 Reed Warblers, also caught was a control Goldcrest, originally ringed by David Norman at Oxmoor earlier in the year. Sightings on the bed included a Marsh Harrier being mobbed by 2 Ravens, 20 Redwings, 3 Grey Wagtails and a light southerly movement of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits.

September 2010 Sightings
26th September 2010 Dave Riley was on No1 bed on the Saturday and Sunday, catching 89 birds, of which the 78 new included his first Song Thrush (a greyish bird, possibly continental) and Blackbird for a while, the warblers comprised 3 Reed Warblers, 4 Blackcaps and 19 Chiffchaffs, other birds of note were 4 Goldcrests and 8 Lesser Redpolls.

The No3 bed team 63 new birds on the Saturday morning, including their 500th Reed Warbler of the year and their 178th Chiffchaff (equalling their previous record total). Other birds of note included 15 Blackcaps and a late Sedge Warbler.

Sightings included a Red-necked Grebe, found by Les Jones near Bollin Point on the Saturday morning, a female Marsh Harrier, 1 Nuthatch and a Coal Tit all near Butchersfield. 170 Pink-footed Geese flew over No3, also on the Saturday.

The intrepid David Bowman and Dave Steel carried out a migration watch from Butchersfield on the Sunday morning, seeing 4 skeins of Pink-footed Geese totalling 168, 33 Swallows, 27 Meadow Pipits, 20 Skylarks, 4 Lesser Redpolls, 1 Kingfisher, 3 Goldcrests, 3 Siskins and 2 Chiffchaffs. The star of the morning was a Crossbill that flew over them at 07.50, east to west, before turning south and flying over Dave Riley on No1 bed!

18th September 2010 Dave Riley ringed on No1 bed on the Friday afteroon and Saturday morning, 104 birds were caught with 84 new, highlights included 1 Reed Warbler, 13 Blackcaps, 3 latish Willow Warblers, 21 Chiffchaffs, 2 Treecreepers and 3 Lesser Redpolls. Best of the sightings on the bed was a Nuthatch, a Woolston rarity, seen on the Saturday at the east end of the bed.

Kieran Foster was joined on No3 bed by Mike Miles, Hugh Pulsford, Margaret Rawlins and Lisa Warvill, catching 143 birds, with the 118 new including 5 species of warbler, with 40 Blackcaps, 18 Reed Warblers, 2 Sedge Warblers, 11 Chiffchaffs and a late Willow Warbler still in wing moult, while 4 Meadow Pipits were a surprise. Sightings on the bed included 3 Tree Pipits heading south, a Peregrine, Snipe, approx. 150 House Martins and a brief Black Tern, which was over the main pool for about 20 minutes before leaving to the east.

12th September 2010 With the weather turning distinctly unpredictable it was a case of opening some nets when we could and with Thursday morning looking a possible, Mike Miles went to Woolston Wednesday afternoon to set some nets and catching just 17 birds at the feeders (6 new and 11 retraps).

On Thursday morning he was joined by Kenny McNiffe, and, running a reduced number of nets, they enjoyed a good morning, catching 68 birds (36 new and 32 retraps), which is not bad for a ringing team with a combined age of one hundred and thirty one! Included were 13 Blackcaps and 4 Reed Warblers but the most interesting bird was a juvenile Goldcrest, their second of the autumn.

Friday afternoon Mike was back to set the rest of the nets and caught 22 birds at the feeders included 2 new juvenile Willow Tits. This brings the Woolston combined total to 51 new Willow Tits ringed this year and with large areas of the reserve unringed the total population can only be estimated but they must happily have had a very good year. He saw no Hirundines on the bed but since he was "staying over" and had nothing else to do he set a net and some CD players for Swallows. He sat in the hide and saw no birds and just as he was about to give up, 2 Swallows flew in and he saw one in the net. In the 30 seconds that it took him to walk from the hide to the net the roost came in and he was surprised to catch 39 Swallows and a latish Sand Martin.

The forecast for Saturday morning said rain overnight, clearing around 6ish. Kieran Foster, Margaret Rawlins and Hugh Pulsford joined Mike. The rain did indeed stop but not until 7am and the nets were opened for an hour and a half, before heavy showers returned. This was very frustrating because in their 90 minutes or so of good ringing they caught 116 birds (93 new and 23 retraps) and the morning would have been huge if it had remained dry. Another 19 Reed Warblers and 28 Blackcaps were caught, but just a single retrap Willow Warbler. Six new Dunnocks were all juveniles and presumably second brood birds. The week ended with 262 captures (185 new and 77 retraps).

Zoe Houghton joined Dave Riley for the Friday afternoon session, catching 58 birds, 44 new, with many Chiffchaffs present, along with only their third Jay of the year. Dave caught 50 birds on the rain affected Saturday morning, including four Goldcrests and even more Chiffchaffs, with the latter species ending up on 31 new birds for the two sessions.

John Blundell and Tony Davis spent the Sunday morning also on No1 bed, catching the first Meadow Pipits of the year (5), along with the first Lesser Redpoll of the autumn and first Linnet for a while. Sightings on the bed included a good westerly passage of House Martins (150) and Swallows (50), while a Green Sandpiper was on the west pool (all Friday), a Coal Tit was present on the Saturday morning.

5th September 2010 With the weather fine, settled and light winds it was time to maximise the ringing opportunity presented, so ringing took place on No3 bed, on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In the previous two weeks, Mike Miles had said that the amount of ripening elderberry and bramble made them optimistic that September would be a big Blackcap month, but not in their most deluded moments did they expect to ring 84 new Blackcaps in one morning or 148 new birds in the first 4 days of the month but this is what they have done. The amount of fruiting Elder is awesome and there are Blackcaps everywhere.

Mike went down to Woolston on Wednesday afternoon to put up some nets for Thursday morning and, as is his usual habit, he opened just the 2 nets by the feeders to catch a few bits and pieces in between putting up and furling other nets. It turned out to be a bit hectic and he ended with 75 birds (52 new and 23 retraps). Juvenile Greenfinches turned up in numbers and he ringed 31 new ones. He also caught a 3 female Sparrowhawk, Woolston's first for 2010 which was quickly followed by the second on No1 on Friday and the third on No3 on the Saturday. An attempt to catch some Swallows resulted in six ringed out of about 20 coming to roost.

On Thursday, he was joined by Zoe Houghton and, running a restricted number of nets, they caught 114 birds (99 new and 15 retraps). Highlights were 2 more Garden Warblers and 57 new Blackcaps. He was back Friday afternoon to set nets for Saturday morning. Life was quieter at the feeders and he caught just 44 birds (25 new and 19 retraps). The new birds included a juvenile Willow Tit. A further try for Swallows produced just a single bird despite there being 30 or so above the bed before dusk. This is probably the end of Swallow roosts for 2010 and their 251 new Swallows is their best year since 2007.

Finally, on the Saturday morning, he was joined by Kieran Foster, Margaret Rawlins and Lisa Warvill , operating 24 nets and catching 211 birds ( 173 new and 38 retraps). This included 6 Sedge Warblers to take them to 102 for the year, along with 28 Reed Warblers, 2 more Garden Warblers, 84 Blackcaps and 18 Chiffchaffs. All these species except Chiffchaff have now been caught in record numbers in 2010. A 3 male Sparrowhawk was their second of the week. A retrap Willow Tit had originally been ringed on No1 bed.

The week ended with 451 captures (356 new and 95 retraps). Sightings included a calling Green Woodpecker, a pair of displaying Sparrowhawks and a female Marsh Harrier flying through south mobbed by a Buzzard (all Thursday) and a Green Sandpiper briefly on the Morgan Scrape on Friday afternoon.

Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton operated No1 bed on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching 219 birds, 186 new. The warblers included 47 Chiffchaffs, 39 Blackcaps, 12 Reed Warblers, 11 Willow Warblers, 4 Whitethroats and a Sedge Warbler, while other birds of note included 2 Willow Tits and the 16 new Blue Tits and 10 Great Tits must have moved on to the bed from another area, possibly Lymm Golf Course just across the Canal from the bed, where they have a nest box scheme. A Sparrowhawk was their first of the year. John Blundell and Tony Davis visited the bed on Sunday morning, catching 22 birds, including another Willow Tit and the first Green Woodpecker for the reserve in 2010, along with a further four Chiffchaffs. Sightings on the bed included the first Grey Wagtail for a while and a Tree Pipit flying south (both Saturday), while 120 House Martins and 250+ Swallows were also moving south on the Friday.

August 2010 Sightings
29th August 2010 Dave Riley was on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with Zoe Houghton joining him on the first day, 155 birds were caught, including 142 new, highlights included their first new Lesser Whitethroat and Tree Pipits (3) of the year, while good numbers of warblers were still present, with 27 Chiffchaffs, 24 Blackcaps, 15 Willow Warblers, 12 Reed Warblers, 2 Garden Warblers and singles of Whitethroat and Sedge Warblers amongst the birds ringed.

Kieran Foster ringed at the Swallow roost on No3 bed on the Thursday and Friday evenings, catching 50 new birds and one British control, the highlight, however, was a Hobby, only the second to be caught at Woolston, after the first ringed on 8th June 2002 on No1 bed. On the Saturday, he was joined by Margaret Rawlins and Lisa Warvill, catching a variety of species and bringing the total of new birds ringed up to 180 over the three sessions, including 39 Blackcaps and 29 Reed Warblers.

Sightings included 2 Hobbys, 2 Water Rails and a Wigeon on No3 bed along with the Barn Owl on No3 again.

22nd August 2010 It has been another big week on No3 bed. Encouraged by our success with the Swallows last weekend Michael Miles took advantage of calm weather on Wednesday evening to take another catch of 41 Swallows and a single Sand Martin from a roost of about 250 birds. The Swallows contained a single retrap from a few weeks ago. On Thursday morning he was joined by Zoe Houghton and Kenny McNiffe and, in very good conditions we caught 137 birds (86 new and 51 retraps). Warblers continued to feature strongly with 2 more Garden Warblers (this is now their record year) 14 Reed Warblers and Blackcaps beginning to pick up with 12 new birds. 17 new Greenfinches was their biggest showing for months and the 7 retrap Greenfinches included a tourist from No1 bed.

They moved the weekend effort from Friday evening/Saturday to Saturday evening/Sunday based on mid-week weather forecasts. In the event Friday/Saturday would have been O.K. although Sunday morning was particularly good with no wind and cloud cover until quite late. On Saturday afternoon Michael went down to Woolston to put nets up and left just the feeder nets open as is his usual routine. I caught just a handful of birds and the last one he caught before furling was a 3JM Greenfinch moulting P7 and P8 on both wings. This was well advanced. All 4 feathers would score 4 on a moult card. Unfortunately time was pressing to get ready for another go at the Swallows so he could not take pictures. Kieran Foster and he duly tried for the Swallows and, from a slightly larger roost of about 300 birds we caught 79 Swallows and a single Sand Martin. This is their single biggest catch since the 350 plus in 2007. The glory days of Woolston Swallow roosts are long gone and those of us who can reminisce about watching 10,000 birds swirling over the beds are showing our age. They have now taken about 180 birds from this "roost" of about 250 in the last 2 weeks without retrapping a single bird which shows how dynamic the population must be.

On the Sunday they were joined by Lisa Warvill and, in ideal conditions, caught 156 birds (124 new/ 32 retraps). Highlights were their 3rd Lesser Whitethroat this year, a further 30 new Reed Warblers, 12 new Whitethroats (another recent "record year" and a reward for the extensive coppicing by WECG), 36 new Blackcaps and yet another 2 new Garden Warblers. The amount of ripening Blackberry and Elderberry on the bed is really impressive this year and they hope September will be a very big Blackcap month.

The week ended with 424 captures (336 new and 88 retraps).

Sightings on the bed included 2 Greenshanks on the Morgan scrape, on Wednesday evening, a juvenile Peregrine over the north-west corner on Thursday, 3 Swifts through at dusk on Saturday and a Snipe and a singing Willow Warbler this morning.

Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton ringed on No1 bed, dodging the showers on the Friday afternoon and there for a more settled session on the Saturday morning. 70 birds were caught over the two days, with 60 new, including another two Willow Warblers and two Grasshopper Warblers. Phylloscopus warblers were still present in good numbers in good numbers with 14 Willow Warblers and 8 Chiffchaffs ringed.

Sightings on the bed included a Barn Owl, Water Rail and a Swift.

15th August 2010 With the mid-week weather forecast predicting rain on Saturday morning but fine, still, conditions on Sunday, the No3 bed team decided to switch to Sunday ringing. Michael Miles went to Woolston on Saturday afternoon to put up some nets and kept just 3 open, catching 34 birds (20 new/ 14 retraps). The notable features were 10 new juvenile bullfinches and a Garden Warbler. Kieran Foster arrived early evening to put nets up and they decided to try for Swallows. The roost was about 250 birds strong, coming in right on top of their net. Accordingly they took a nice catch of 54 birds, all Swallows (53 new and 1 British control).

They were joined on the Sunday morning by Hugh Pulsford and a visiting team from South Manchester Ringing Group comprising Tony Wilkinson, Jake Gregory and David Hatter. With ideal conditions and plenty of help they deployed 24 nets and caught 159 birds (126 new and 33 retraps). The new birds included 79 warblers with another 5 Garden Warblers taking them to a record annual catch for this species. Two more juvenile Willow tits were ringed but bird of the morning must be the juvenile Goldcrest, a genuine 3J J and the first that Michael can remember catching on the bed. Sightings there were limited to 3 Black-tailed Godwits and 2 Wigeon on the scrape and 2 Swifts passing through.

Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton managed to dodge the showers on the Friday afternoon and evening, catching 61 birds, 47 new, amongst which were good numbers of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs along with single Swallow and Linnet. The Saturday morning started off damp, but the rain eased by 06.30.They were joined by Ron Brumby and with seven nets opened, 57 birds were caught with 50 new, including an excellent Grasshopper Warbler and the first new Coal Tit of the year. Sightings on the bed were limited to a separate Grasshopper Warbler on territory for it's fourth week, six Swifts and a single flock of 40 Chiffchaffs.

8th August 2010 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton worked No1 bed on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching 150 birds over the two days, including 127 new. The numbers of Reed Warblers were down (maybe they had all moved to No3 bed - see below), but there were good catches of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs, along with 3 Garden warblers.

It has been a big week on No3 bed. The forecast looked promising for Tuesday so Kieran Foster and Michael Miles went to Woolston on Monday evening to set some nets. Whilst they were there, they tried for hirindines, but no roost formed in the tower hide area and we caught just a single Sand Martin. We were rewarded by the sight of a Little Egret coming into roost and a Hobby hunting over the reeds. There was also an unseasonal Wigeon in front of the Sybil Hogg hide.

Tuesday morning conditions looked ideal. Kieran and Michael were joined by Margaret Rawlings and we caught 135 birds (95 new and 40 retraps). They thought their 31 new Reed Warblers was a good score but better was to follow later in the week. Three new juvenile Willow Tits brought them to 27 new Willow Tits for the year. Two rare birds for No3 bed were sighted along the south bank namely a Nuthatch and a Green Woodpecker. The mid-week forecasts for Friday/Saturday were poor so Michael put in a session on Thursday joined by Zoe Houghton. With a reduced number of nets they caught 56 birds (28 new and 28 retraps). The most notable bird was "one that got away". They entered the ride by the feeders to find a Carrion Crow caught by one foot, which easily escaped once it saw them. This would have been a first for Woolston.

The forecast improved quite dramatically so Kieran and Michael assembled again on Friday evening to set nets including two "new" rides near the Frank Linley hide. These are not, in fact, new but are only used for a few weeks each summer to target reedbed species. As they set nets in one of these rides they looked up to see about 250 mixed Sand Martins and Swallows swirling directly above. By the time Michael had lumbered back to the hut and fetched CDs they had gone to roost on the north bank of the bed about 100 metres from their ride. Once again the Hobby was in attendance.

Conditions were just about perfect on Saturday morning. Michael was able to join Kieran at 04.30 to get the nets open before dawn. Margaret and Danny joined them and their first round was 72 birds including 44 Reed Warblers. They ended up catching 174 birds (142 new and 32 retraps). Our 62 new Reed Warblers brought us to 98 for the week. Another highlight was catching 8 new Garden Warblers bringing them to 10 for the week. They started the autumn trapping and caught 3 new juvenile Moorhens.

Finally, irritated by their "near miss" on Friday evening, Kieran and Michael had a go at the hirundine roost on the Sunday evening. A flock of around 200 mostly Swallows formed up, attended by 2 Hobbys. Michael was reminded of a phrase of David Norman's when he tried for Swallows in the Southeast corner of the bed one evening a few years ago. "They were around but they did not really want to be there". The flock "buzzed " our nets a few times but went to roost in the same area on the other side of the water. In the end they caught 11 Swallows and a Sedge Warbler.

Final bird sighting was an early returning Snipe flushed from the edge of the phragmites

The week ended with 397 captures (284 new and 113 retraps). The new birds included 194 warblers. It is early days but the indications are that a number of species have enjoyed a very good breeding season. They are on course to set record totals for Willow Tit and Treecreeper amongst the residents and, at least measured against the last 10 years, for Garden Warbler, Whitethroat and Willow Warbler. These latter two species must be benefiting from the large scale coppicing that has taken place on the bed. It is too early to draw conclusions for Reed Warblers and Blackcaps but totals are high vs the same time last year.

Other than the sightings listed above on No3 bed, a Green Sandpiper was seen on No1 bed and there was and good passage of Swifts on the Friday afternoon with approx. 1000 flying west between 13.00 and 15.00, including one flock of 500+. A grasshopper Warbler was heard reeling in the early morning of the Saturday.

July 2010 Sightings
31st July 2010 Dave Riley was joined on No1 bed by Zoe Houghton and Phil Guest for the Friday afternoon session, dodging the showers and catching 77 birds, 66 new, before the rain came in during the late afternoon. Highlights included a new Kingfisher and 2 new Great Spotted Woodpeckers amongst the many warblers. For the Saturday morning session, Dave and Phil were accompanied by Liz Kerr and John Blundell, 200 birds were caught before lunch with 162 new including, again, many warblers along with 2 Treecreepers and a Goldcrest.

John was down again on the Sunday morning, with Tony Davis, adding a further 34 birds to the weekend's total of 321 birds, with a phenomenal 256 new birds, probably the highest number of non-hirundine birds caught over a weekend on the bed. 174 warblers were ringed (68% of the total), including 57 Reed Warblers, 33 Willow Warblers, 26 Blackcaps, 22 Chiffchaffs, 16 Whitethroats, 13 Sedge Warblers and 7 Garden Warblers, other highlights included 3 Treecreepers (one was caught on the Sunday), 2 Willow Tits and 41 Greenfinches.

Kieran Foster and Michael Miles were joined by Zoe for a Thursday morning session on No3 bed, catching 102 birds, with 64 new and a control. Highlights included 21 Reed Warblers, 2 Treecreepers, 3 Jays and a Garden Warbler. Margaret Rawlins worked the bed on the Saturday morning, adding a further 16 new birds to the week's total, including the seventh Goldfinch for the bed this year.

Sightings were restricted to a small passage of Swifts flying west over No1 bed, and small numbers of Black-tailed Godwits, Green Sandpipers and a Common Sandpiper on the loop of No4 bed.

24th July 2010 Ringing took place on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, when Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton caught 173 birds, 153 new, including good numbers of Reed Warbler (33), Willow Warbler (19) and Chiffchaff (11). A small hirundine roost has built up on the bed and the team caught 24 Swallows and 1 Sand Martin. John Blundell and Tony Davis had a brief session on the same bed on the Sunday morning, catching seven birds, including 2 Bullfinches to add to the four caught the previous two days.

Michael Miles worked No3 bed on the Friday morning/afternoon, catching 95 birds, 59 new, which included the first Kingfisher to be ringed on the bed since 2005. On the Saturday morning, Michael was joined by Kieran Foster, Margaret Rawlins and Hugh Pulsford and with a full team out, they caught 196 birds, 159 new, including many Reed Warblers (96 different birds were processed over the weekend, including 74 new). Two new Willow Tits were also caught here to add to what appears to be a record total for the species.

Sightings included 300 Swallows roosting on No1 bed, along with a new brood of Little Grebes, also seen were 2 Green Sandpipers, a possible Wood Sandpiper and 12 Black-tailed Godwits all on the loop of No4 bed.

17th July 2010 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton ringed on No1 bed on the Friday and a rain affected Saturday, catching 120 birds, 87 new, including 17 Reed Warblers, 12 Willow Warblers and a Goldcrest. A roost of Hirundines has built up on the bed, comprising 1000+ Swallows and 300+ Sand Martins, Dave and Zoe managed to catch a small sample of these including 7 of the former and 1 of the latter.

Kieran Foster and Michael Miles called on to No3 bed briefly on the Friday and after finding a few hirundines going to roost, managed to catch 16 Sand Martins and 13 Swallows. On the Saturday they were joined by Margaret Rawlins, catching 138 birds, of which 99 were new, with an excellent 37 Reed Warblers new out of 47 caught.

Sightings included a returning Green Woodpecker to No1 bed and a Little Egret and 8 Goldfinches on No3.

10th July 2010 Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were ringing on No1 bed for the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching 140 birds, 101 new, which included 23 Greenfinches and a total of 37 warblers (11 Reed Warblers, 3 Whitethroats, 7 Blackcaps, 8 Willow Warblers and 8 Chiffchaffs). The six Swallows were caught along with 2 new Sand Martins and one retrap which was ringed on the same bed last year.

Kieran Foster, Margaret Rawlins and Lisa Warvill ringed on No3 bed on the Saturday morning, catching 146 birds, 110 new, of which 71% were warblers, including what was one of the best catches for Whitethroats (25) that Kieran could remember on the bed. The three House Sparrows were a surprise as they were the first to be ringed on the reserve since October 2005.

Sightings included the first Green Woodpecker for a while on No1 bed and 300+ Sand martins along with 100+ Swallows going to roost on the same bed on Friday. Another surprise was the sight of two Little Egrets flying over No3 bed, early on the Saturday morning before settling nearby for a short while and eventually leaving high to the north-east.

3rd July 2010 Ringing took place on both the Friday and Saturday on No1 bed, where Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton caught 108 birds, with 85 new, including their first Sand Martin, Swallow and Treecreeper of the year. Good numbers of warblers included a Grasshopper Warbler, 12 Reed Warblers (along with a bird originally caught on 26/07/2003 and not caught again since 2005), 7 Whitethroats, 4 Blackcaps, 14 Chiffchaffs and 7 Willow Warblers.

The No3 bed team of Kieran Foster and Lisa Warvill were there on the Saturday morning only, catching 75 new birds including 31 warblers of eight species, the highlights being single Grasshopper Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat along with 17 Reed Warblers.

Dave and Kieran have done a quick calculation of the number of adult Reed Warblers that have been caught at the Eyes this year and have come with a total of 145, with many returning ringed birds from previous years, a total of 400 for the reserve as a whole wouldn't be too surprising.

Sightings include: 3 male Grasshopper Warblers, 200 Sand Martins and 100+ Swallows, pre-roost, along with 30+ Swifts, 2 broods of Pochard on the east pool along with possibly four broods of Little Grebe on the same pool (all on No1 bed)

No3 bed produced a singing Grasshopper Warbler and up to eight Small Tortoiseshells along with the disturbing sight of a Lesser Black-backed Gull appearing to take a Black-necked Grebe chick.

June 2010 Sightings
26th June Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were both on No1 bed for the Friday and Saturday, catching 137 birds, 87 new, including their first Stock Dove and Woodpigeon of the year, along with the third Kingfisher of the year for the bed. The first juvenile Reed Warblers of the year for No1 made up the majority of the 14 new ringed and another three Linnets were caught.

Michael Miles had three sessions on No3 bed - solo ones on the Wednesday and Friday and with Kieran, Margaret and Lisa for the Saturday, catching 250 birds in the week, 123 new, including 13 new Reed Warblers and possibly the first retrap Stock Dove ever to be caught on the reserve.

Not many sightings to report other than three broods of both Pochard and Little Grebe on No1 bed.

18th and 19th June Dave Riley ringed on No1 bed on both days, catching 145 birds, (83 new), including good numbers of Willow Warbler and the first young Kingfisher of the year, two new Linnets were ringed and a third bird caught had been ringed in the nest by Mike Smith, John Blundell and Tony Davis also ringed four pulli Whitethroats on the bed.

Michael Miles ringed No3 bed on his own on the Friday and was joined by Kieran Foster, Margaret Rawlins and Justin Garner for the Saturday morning. A total of 185 birds were handled with 84 new, including another seven Willow Tits, Treecreeper, Jay and a further 3 Bullfinches.

Sighings included 50+ Sand Martins in a pre-roost gathering and a Grasshopper Warbler reeling, both on No1 bed, while a Buzzard was over No3 bed, where 200 or so Starlings went to roost.

12th June Dave Riley was joined on No1 bed by Zoe Houghton on the Friday afternoon and Roger Short and Helen Williams for both days. During the two sessions 184 birds were caught, 120 new, including 34 warblers. 17 Chiffchaffs were all juveniles, as were the 6 Willow Warblers and the majority of the 18 Greenfinches, while the 6 Bullfinches was an excellent total for the bed.

On the Saturday morning, the No3 bed team of Kieran Foster, Margaret Rawlings and Michael Miles were joined by Chris Cadman, a student from Manchester on a ringing 'taster' session, they caught 155 birds of 22 species with 96 new. Highlights included 3 Stock Doves and 8 Willow Tits, which is a record catch for a single day at the Eyes. Ringed birds included a UK control Reed Warbler along with another Reed Warbler that was originally ringed as 3J on 5th July 2003 and not caught since.

Sightings included a female Marsh Harrier and a small pre-roost gathering of 50 Swallows on No1 bed.

22nd May - 5th June Minimal ringing took place on No1 bed during the first two weeks, with John Blundell and Tony Davis ringing some pulli and a few free-flying birds on the first weekend, while the second weekend was too wet.

Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton ringed on the final weekend, catching 62 free flying birds, including their first Jay of the year, along with their fourth Grasshopper Warbler. Juvenile birds were more noticeable, with young Robin, Long-tailed Tit and Willow Tit being caught.

The No3 bed team were active on the first and last Saturdays of the period, catching good numbers of free flying birds, including four Mistle Thrushes, a species that is rarely caught at the Eyes. Again, juvenile birds were included in the totals, with the first Blackcap and Chiffchaff along the more expected species. I have included some pullus that Mike Smith ringed on the river bank, near the car park, in the totals for this bed, Mike has also ringed pullus on No4 bed and No1.

Sightings during the period included the second Spoonbill and the third Nightjar for the reserve, both on No3 bed, while young waterfowl are beginning to show in numbers.

May 2010 Sightings
15th May 2010 Ringing took place on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with Dave Riley there both days and joined by Zoe Houghton for the Friday, 60 birds were caught, including 32 new. The first session produced another two Yellowhammers and four juvenile Greenfinches, while the morning session brought four new Sedge Warblers.

The No3 bed team ringed 69 birds on the Saturday morning, including reasonable numbers of pullus tits, but the biggest surprise came when they found an old owl nest box, which had previously only been used by squirrels, was occupied by three healthy Tawny Owl chicks, which promptly became the first to be ringed at the Eyes since 2003. Other birds ringed included another six Sedge Warblers, two juvenile Song Thrushes and another four Bullfinches (where are they all coming from!).

Sightings, all from No1 bed, included a small passage of Swallows and Swifts and a Garden Warbler on territory.

8th May 2010 Another quietish weekend with an annoying breeze on both the Friday and Saturday. Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton were on No1 bed on the Friday, catching 27 birds with 8 new, including the first Garden Warbler of the year to be caught on the reserve. The Saturday morning was a little quiieter, with just 14 birds caught with seven new, including the third Yellowhammer of the year. Of the seven Reed Warblers caught during the two days, six were retraps from previous years, two of them originally caught in 2006, and not since.

The team on No3 bed were out on the Saturday morning, catching 40 birds with 20 new. 11 different Sedge warblers were caught including eight new birds, but the biggest surprise here was the first fledged juvenile of the year, a 3JM Greenfinch.

Sightings included a late Meadow Pipit on No1 bed and two Common terns on No3 bed scrape.

1st May 2010 Dave Riley was joined by Zoe Houghton on No1 bed on the Friday dodging the showers and catching 46 birds, 18 new, including the first Magpie, Whitethroat and Reed Warbler of the year, although the latter was originally ringed as an adult in Spring 2009 and not caught since. The Saturday total of 19 birds, 6 new, included the first Kingfisher, Song Thrushes, Blackcap (an escape from No3 bed) and Lesser Whitethroat of the year, with the last being originally ringed as an adult in May 2008, in the same net ride.

Mike Miles was also joined by Zoe on 27th April, ringing on No3 bed, where they caught the first Lesser Whitethroat of the year, in their total of 47 birds, 27 new. The next session on this bed was Sunday, when the breezy conditions reduced the catch to 14 birds, 5 new, but did include the third Grasshopper Warbler to be ringed on the bed this year.

Sightings included: No1 bed, 2 Lesser Whitethroats and 1 Yellowhammer (both Friday), 1 Water Rail, 2 Mediterranean Gulls (visiting from No3 bed) and 5 House Martins.

No3 bed: Jack Snipe, 2 Mediterranean Gulls (see above) - both Tuesday, 15 Swifts, 100+ Sand Martins, 300+ Swallows, male Whinchat (all Saturday), Cuckoo and Peregrine - both Sunday.

April 2010 Sightings
17th April 2010 Ringing place on No1 bed taking place on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching 57 birds, 14 new, which included the third Grasshopper Warbler of the year and first Sedge Warbler. There are still a few seed eaters around with 5 Chaffinch and 3 Reed Buntings ringed. Thanks to Zoe Houghton, Ron Brumby and Mike Smith for their assistance.

Michael Miles was also joined for his regular Tuesday ringing session on No3 bed by Zoe, with Kieran and Margaret there on Saturday morning. A total of 35 new birds were caught, including their first Grasshopper Warblers (2), Sedge Warblers (5), Reed Warbler (1) and Whitethroats (3, as well as a colour ringed bird from a few years ago). They are also still catching good numbers of Bullfinches - where are they all coming from?

Sightings included a Lesser Whitethroat, Kingfisher and small numbers of hirundines over No1, while No3 had 2 Shelduck, 2 Snipe, 3 Buzzards and good numbers of Sedge Warblers, along with a Brimstone and good numbers of Small Tortoiseshells.

17th April 2010 Ringing took place on No1 bed on 16th and 17th, with 57 birds caught, with 21 new, which included the first Yellowhammers to be ringed at Woolston for two years and the first two Grasshopper Warblers of the year. Birds that got away included the first Jay of the year for the bed and what would have been the first ever Collared Dove to be ringed on No1, had it stayed in the net!

Michael Miles ringed on No3 bed on 13th, catching 37 birds, 13 new, which included two Blackcaps and a Woodpigeon, while 13 different Bullfinches were retrapped. He was joined by Kieran and Margaret on 17th, catching a further 37 birds, 23 new, which included their third Stock Dove of the year, another Woodpigeon, 3 Jays and 3 Lesser Redpolls.

Sightings included: No1 bed, Sedge Warbler (13th), Reed Warbler, 2 Tawny Owls (16th), 1 Oystercatcher, 4 Water Rails and 1 Whitethroat (17th)

No2 bed, Reed Warbler (13th), Fieldfare and Whitethroat (17th).

10th April 2010 With the Spring seemingly ending, we are beginning to see and catch some summer migrants, with the first Willow Warblers, in particular, present, including seven caught, five Blackcaps were also caught on No3 along with two Chiffchaffs, with the No1 bed team catching just a single Chiffchaff along with a retrap from 2009. Other highlights included 8 Lesser Redpolls split equally between the beds, as were the six new Bullfinches. The feeding stations are still attracting the seed eaters, with totals of 10 Chaffinch, 17 Greenfinches, 6 Reed Buntings and a single Goldfinch, all new.

Sightings included 3 Tawny Owls, 1 Redwing and a Sedge Warbler, all on No1 bed

27th March and 3rd April 2010 The only ringing activities over the two weeks were on No3 bed, with the highlights including another Common Snipe and a re-trapped Jack Snipe, originally ringed on 28th November. The first Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps of the year were also ringed, along with another three Linnets and seven Lesser Redpolls.

Sighings included the first Swallows of the year and a Greylag Goose, while Dave Hackett had a count of 70 Chiffchaffs and 12 Willow warblers on 7th.

March 2010 Sightings
20th March 2010 Dave Riley was joined by Zoe Houghton on the Friday afternoon in spring like conditions (at last), catching 31 birds, but only 8 new, inluding two Lesser Redpolls and their first Linnet of the year. Liz Kerr and Loise Soames joined them for the following morning in the light showers, reducing the catch to 16 birds, 5 new, including another Bullfinch.

Kieran Foster worked No3 bed on the Saturday morning, catching 8 new birds, including a Great Spotted Woodpecker, their second of the year.

Sightings included 60 Fieldfares, 80 Linnets, 4 Sand Martins and 9 Buzzards (including 1 displaying) along with 12 Common Frogs on one of their breeding pools - all on No1 bed. On No3, Kieran reported 3 Jack Snipe, 2 Common Snipe and a Lapwing.

Also of note was 21 Buzzards on No1 bed on Tuesday 23rd.

13th March 2010 Ringing took place on No1 bed on 10th, 12th and 13th, when 58 birds were caught, with 14 new, including the first Great Spotted Woodpeckers and Lesser Redpoll of the year for the bed. Other highlights were the second and third Goldfinch for the year, a retrap Coal Tit, originally ringed in October 2009, and the female Bullfinch with the pale upper mandible, now showing more white in the plumage with the tail almost completely white.

The team on No3 bed caught their second ever Stock Dove, only a couple of weeks after their first, a new Linnet was also caught.

Sightings included 91 Pochard flying west over No1 bed and a flock of 5 Jays on the same bed. On No3 bed, 1 Snipe, 1 Water Rail, 1 Greylag Goose and a flock of about 20 Linnets were seen.

6th March 2010 Dave Riley was joined by Sam Bailey and Zoe Houghton for the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching 93 birds, but only 20 new, including four Reed Buntings. Michael Miles had a session on the Tuesday, catching 29 birds, including 7 new, while on the Saturday morning, Kieran Foster was present from 5am to set nets for Snipe and was rewarded with two of the target birds and a single Jack Snipe, while the baited duck trap produced a Coot, their first for a couple of years.

Sightings included 2 trilling Little Grebes, 1 Greylag Goose, 6 Water Rails, 14 Snipe, 60 Fieldfare and a Coal Tit from No1 bed, while No3 bed produced 2 Buzzards, 4 Snipe, 2 Water Rails, 2 Woodcocks, 1 Female Brambling and 21 Linnets feeding in the North Meadow.

February 2010 Sightings
23rd and 27th February 2010 Ringing took place on No3 bed only on the two days, with Michael Miles catching 31 birds on the first day, including the first Stock Dove to ever be ringed on the bed along with their first Lesser Redpoll of the year. The team caught 19 birds on the Saturday, with five new including their first Great Spotted Woodpecker of the year.

Sightings, all from No3 bed, included a Woodcock, 3 Snipe, 2 Water Rails, 2 Fieldfares, a male Brambling and a Curlew flying south.

19th and 20th February 2010 A good session for the No3 bed team on Friday and Saturday with 85 birds caught (43 new), and including the Long-tailed Tit first ringed in 2002 and the first Brambling of the year.

It was quieter on No1 bed with only 11 of the 55 birds caught being new, but including the first Goldfinch of the year.

Champion traveller of the week was a Great Spoted Woodpecker, originally ringed on No1 bed on in December, visited No3 bed on 23rd January, before returning to No1 on 30th before moving off to No3 again on 19th February.

Sightings included the first Little Grebe of the year on No1 bed and 20 Gadwall also there.

12th and 13th February 2010 Dave Riley was joined on No1 bed by Zoe Houghton and Steve Menzie for both days with Liz Kerr and Mike Smith on the Saturday morning only, catching 83 birds (29 new) over the two days. Good numbers of Reed Buntings are still present, with 24 different birds caught including 12 new, they also caught their first Yellowhammer for two years, an adult male originally ringed on 15th March 2008.

Sightings on the bed included two skeins of Pink-footed Geese, one of 130 on the Friday afternoon and another of 40 on the Saturday morning, Water Rails seem to have arrived back, with three different birds heard, while the Fieldfare roost was increasing slightly with 20 birds present.

The Saturday morning activities on No3 bed centred around moving 600kg of black sunflower seed into the bed while two nets were erected and 13 birds caught.

5th and 6th February 2010 No1 bed was the only site to be worked this weekend, with Dave Riley and Zoe Houghton present for both days and Steve Menzie and John Blundell with them on the Friday. 83 birds were caught over the two sessions including 26 new birds. Reed Buntings still predominate with eight new birds, while Blue and Great tits were both present in good numbers and five Willow Tits were retrapped included one bird originally ringed on 26/07/2006 and last retrapped on 03/08/2007 - where has it been since?

January 2010 Sightings
30th January 2010 The No1 bed team were present on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching 69 birds, but only 15 new, including another seven new Reed Buntings, one of the retraps was originally ringed on 21/06/2003.

The No3 bed team concentrated mainly on coppicing, but also found time to catch 4 birds, including two Chaffinches.

Sightings were restricted to a Woodcock and three Fieldfares on No1 bed.

23rd January 2010 After a break of two weeks due to bad weather, ringing finally took place on bath beds over the weekend. On No1 bed, the team were there on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, ringing 35 new birds out of a total of 75 caught, there had been a good influx of Reed Buntings on to the bed, with them calling everywhere, as a result, 15 birds were ringed, there had also been an influx of Great Tits with eight ringed.

The No3 bed team were there on the Saturday morning, ringing 16 birds, including 4 Great Tits and three Bullfinches.

Sightings included a Green Woodpecker and two Redwing, both from No1 bed.

2nd January 2010 A quiet start to the year saw Dave Riley on No1 bed New Year's Day, catching 45 birds with just nine new. Sightings on the bed included 14 Fieldfare, 1 Skylark (flying south), a Yellowhammer visiting the feeding station and a Firecrest near the canal. 110 Pink-footed Geese flew NW over the bed on the Sunday morning.

On No3 bed Michael Miles and Kieran Foster braved the sleet and hail showers and managed to put three nets up, catching 30 birds of which ten were new, including single Woodpigeon and Linnet, both unusual birds on the bed. Sightings included 2 Woodcock and a skein of 150 Pink-footed Geese heading south.

December 2009 Sightings
24th December 2009 The last ringing session for the year on the reserve was on No1 bed on Christmas Eve, a fresh covering of snow meant Dave Riley leaving his car by the first barrier, fortunately, Sam Bailey, a visiting ringer from Sussex arrived in his Jeep to allow the session to take place. First bird of the morning was one of the wintering Chiffchaffs, one of only seven new birds, out of 39 caught.

The only sightings included a southely movement of Fieldfares, totalling 93, and 2 Woodcock.

15th, 18th and 19th December 2009 Dave Riley was joined by Zoe Houghton on the Friday, catching 26 birds (only 4 new), including a Reed Bunting that had been originally on 27/03/2004, caught again in subsequent winters until 2007, but not since. They also caught only their second Magpie of the year. The following day, they were joined by Steve Menzie, catching a further 37 birds, this time with 11 new, with one of the re-trap Reed Buntings proving to be even older than the previous days birds, having been ringed originally on 23/08/2003, as a 3j male and caught just three times since - all in the winter.

Michael Miles had a visit to No3 bed on the Tuesday, putting up a couple of nets and catching 27 birds (12 new), including 2 Goldfinches, but the star bird was a Long-tailed Tit originally ringed there in June 2002 as a 3j, and is about 7 years and 7 months old. On Saturday, Michael was joined by Kieran and Lisa, catching a further 25 birds, the 7 new included a Linnet, taking the total for this species on the bed to five this year, these are the first ones to be caught there for about 15 years.

No1 bed sightings included 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Woodcock (both Friday) along with Tawny Owl, 10 Redwings, 7 Fieldfare, Chiffchaff and a Peregrine with prey (possible Song Thrush). No3 bed sightings included a Siskin and a Snipe.

11th and 12th December 2009 Dave Riley was present on No1 bed for Friday and Saturday morning, with Steve Menzie and Zoe Houghton on both occasions along with Mike Smith for the Saturday session, 86 birds were caught and the 30 new included 14 Greenfinches, 5 Chaffinches and 6 Reed Buntings. Sightings on the bed included 70 Fieldfares (going to roost), 2 Woodcock and a single Siskin (all Friday), while the Saturday produced a Peregrine mobbing a Buzzard, a Kingfisher and 2 Chiffchaffs.

Michael Miles and the team worked No3 bed on the Saturday morning catching 40 birds, with the 14 new including 2 Song Thrushes and a Lesser Redpoll. Sightings on the bed were restricted to a single Jack Snipe in front of the Frank Linley hide.

4th and 5th December 2009 Dave Riley was joined on No1 bed on the Friday by Zoe Houghton and Steve Menzie, catching 34 birds, with 19 new, including an unringed flock of Long-tailed Tits! John Blundell joined Dave on the Saturday morning and a further 22 birds were caught (12 new), including a Bullfinch. Sightings on the bed included: 60 Pink-footed Geese (flying north-east), 1 Woodcock, 1 Water Rail and 15 Fieldfare (heading to roost) all on the Friday, while Saturday included a further 17 Fieldfare, 10+ Redwings and a Grey Wagtail.

With Michael Miles being away at the BTO conference, there was no ringing on No3 bed on the Friday, but Kieran Foster was there from 05.10 on the Saturday morning. The early start paid off for him and Margaret Rawlings, with them catching another Woodcock and their first Snipe of the year. A further 43 birds were caught during the morning (22 new), mainly Chaffinches and Greenfinches. Sightings on the bed included 2 different Tawny Owls, 2 Fieldfare, 4 other Snipe and 40 Lapwing.

November 2009 Sightings
28th November 2009 Dave Riley was joined by Zoey Houghton and Steve Menzie on Friday afternoon on No1 bed catching 29 birds (9 new), with a further 32 (16 new) birds caught on the Saturday morning, when Mike Smith, John Blundell and Tony Davies with with him. The new feeding station is shaping up well, with most of the birds caught there.

Michael Miles put in a solo session on the Friday, catching 38 birds (13 new), with nothing of note, while Kieran Foster was down at 05.10 on the Saturday morning and was rewarded with the first Jack Snipe to be caught since 2005 and only the eighth to be ringed at the Eyes. A total of 42 birds (26 new) were caught, including two Linnets, an unusual bird to be caught on the bed, along with a female Chaffinch first ringed on No1 bed on 23rd November 2002 as a 3f, therefore seven and a half years old!

Sightings were few and far between, but included 1 Woodcock and 100+ Pink-footed Geese on No1 bed and two Tawny Owls 'sparring' on No3 bed.

20th and 21st November 2009 Dave Riley was on No1 bed on the Friday afternoon, when the highlight was catching four Willow Tits, including three new birds, all in the same net and within 600mm of each other, they were part of a flock of mainly Blue Tits.

On the Saturday morning he was joined by Mike Smith, Liz Kerr, Steve Menzie, Tony Davis and John Blundell. The conditions first thing were okay, but the breeze gradually got stronger, reducing the catch to just 19 birds, but including a Kingfisher, their sixth of the year.

Michael Miles had a long solo session on No3 bed on the Friday, catching 59 birds (35 new), including the second Sparrowhawk of the year for the bed, along with four Lesser Redpolls and a Goldfinch. Greenfinches numbers have built up to about 50 on the bed, and Michael caught 25 of them.

There was a further session on the Saturday morning when 21 birds were caught (14 new), including only the second Woodcock to be ringed at Woolston, which was aged as a 4 (adult) and unsexed. The first bird to be caught was back in 1999, when Chris Benson managed to 'dazzle' the bird along the main track and it was ringed by Michael. When the bird was released it remained in the leaf litter where it was placed for about 15 seconds, just long enough to allow Steve Menzie to grab an excellent photo (go to Bird Surveys and click on the Photographs ... link). A late November Chiffchaff was also caught on the bed and may be set to winter on the reserve.

13th and 15th November 2009 The forecast of inclement weather for the Saturday along with an infected finger restricted Dave Riley contribution to the ringing effort to the Friday afternoon, when, along with Steve Menzie, a single 18m net was set up by the new feeding station. 16 birds were caught in the first round, giving a hint of it's potential for the coming winter. A total of 24 birds were caught during the afternoon (10 new), with 4 new Chaffinches and 2 new Bullfinches the highlights.

The No3 bed team fared somewhat better, with Michael Miles putting in a long solo session on the Friday, catching 67 birds (44 new), including 17 Chaffinches, 8 Lesser Redpolls and 2 Goldfinches. He was back again on the Sunday, along with Kieran Foster, Lisa Warvill, Steve Menzie and Sam Bailey, it was a little breezier than the Friday, but they still caught 39 birds (16 new), including further Lesser Redpolls (2) and a single Goldfinch, while a further Lesser Redpoll may prove to be a retrap.

There was little to report sighting-wise apart from 7 Fieldfare and a single Chiffchaff, both on No1 bed.

6th and 7th November 2009 The weather at Woolston was just as the forecasters said (that's a change!), with rain coming in on the Friday afternoon and again early Saturday morning, stopping at about 07.30. On No1 bed, Dave Riley was joined by Steve Menzie and Zoe Houghton for a couple of hours on the Friday, catching 2 each of Greenfinch and Lesser Redpoll, while the following day was quiet, with mainly more Greenfinches finding the net, along with a single Meadow Pipit. Another surprise was a male Bullfinch finding it's way from No3 bed, an unusual event, but the second this year.

Michael Miles had No3 bed to himself on the Friday, catching 23 birds (8 new), while the following morning, along with Kieran and Lisa, they managed to catch 7 Starlings (of 200 roosting), the first of the year for the reserve, along with a further 17 new birds, including a Redwing and 2 Lesser Redpolls, while a Mute Swan, coming to food at the duck trap, had it's ring read and might prove to have a useful history. The previous week's Firecrest was still present.

Sightings included 2 Grey Partridges, 2 Tawny Owls, 20 Goldfinches and 100 or so Chaffinches, which seemed to arrive on No3 bed on the Saturday morning as they were not evident on the Friday, all the above were seen on No3 bed.

Sightings of interest on No1 bed included a Jack Snipe and a Grey Wagtail (both Friday) and a small passage of Skylarks, Fieldfares and Redwings on the Saturday.

October 2009 Sightings
30rd to 31st October 2009 The weather was quite kind to the ringing teams on the Friday and Saturday and they were active on both beds on Friday and Saturday, with the second day particularly pleasant.

Dave Riley was joined by Steve Menzie and Zoe Houghton on the Friday, when a light breeze made things a little difficult and catching was fairly slow until a flock of Long-tailed Tits flew into the net mid-afternoon, amazingly 14 of the 15 caught were new, while the last bird of the day was the first Redwing for the bed this year. The following day, Dave was joined by Liz Kerr, Tony Davis and John Blundell and a further 29 birds were caught (22 new), including two long winged Chaffinches, possibly of northern origin.

Sightings included:

30/10 - 1 Green sandpiper, 30 Lesser Redpolls, 25 Goldfinches, 2 Siskin, 10+ Bullfinches, 1 Coal Tit, 80+ Starlings going to roost, 1 Tawny Owl and 1 Long-eared Owl

31/10 - 121 Redwings, 18 Fieldfare, 45 Skylarks, 20 Meadow Pipits, 1 Siskin, 65 Lesser Redpolls, 17 Goldfinches, 8 Yellowhammer (all south), also of note were 2 Green Sandpipers, 5 Water Rails, 25 Starlings (west), 10 Bullfinches (including 5 flying high to the south)

On No3 bed Kieran Foster and Michael Miles had and early start on the Friday where catching was slow and they ended with 66 birds (28 new and 38 retraps). With the weather calmer on the Saturday, Margaret Rawlings joined them and they caught 53 birds (27 new and 26 retraps)

Fridays highlight was a 3 male Firecrest, their first for several years, other good catches on Friday included 3 Redwings, 5 Lesser Redpolls and a Chiffchaff while notable "regulars" included 2 new Willow Tits and a new Great Spotted Woodpecker.

The highlight Saturday morning was their third juvenile Cetti's Warbler in as many weeks. These 3 birds, a male and 2 females, have all been caught in the same area of the Phragmites. The morning also produced a linnet, their third of the year, making 2009 a record for their team, a second Chiffchaff of the weekend and their first catch of the winter from the duck trap, a female Mallard.

Sightings on the bed included up to 100 Redwings over the bed, 1000 Starlings leaving the Phragmites roost at dawn and 2 Tawny Owls calling at dawn on the Saturday.

23rd to 26th October 2009 Ringing took place on No1 bed on the Friday and Saturday over the weekend, catching typical Autumn birds, although the 2 Chiffchaffs and a Treecreeper were pleasant surprises.

The No3 bed team were ringing on the Monday morning, catching 62 birds, including 36 new, with the highlight being their second Cetti's Warbler in little over a week, this time a female, while 7 Lesser Redpolls and a Goldfinch were good catches for the bed.

Sightings included: No1 bed. 1 Green Sandpiper, 4 Water Rail and 50+ Skylark (all 23rd) along with 2 Green Sandpipers and 2 Kingfishers (both 24th)

No3 bed. 1 Snipe, 12 Skylarks (flying south) and 200 Starlings leaving a roost at dawn.

16th and 17th October 2009 Dave Riley was joined on No1 bed, by Stephen Menzie and Leah Williams on the Friday morning, with John Blundell and Tony Davis coming down in the afternoon. 50 birds were caught then, with a retrap Sparrowhawk and new Green Woodpecker, Coal Tit and Lesser Redpoll proving to be the highlights. A further 68 birds were caught on the Saturday morning when DR, JB, TD and SM were joined by Louise Soanes. Unusual birds included their fifth Kingfisher of the year, along with a retrap Reed Warbler, having a fat score of 4 and weighing 13.1 grams, 2 Treecreepers, 46 Greenfinches (highest total for a couple of years), 7 Lesser Redpolls and a Siskin. Altogether, 25 species of bird were caught, an extremely high total for October.

The No3 bed team were also out on the Saturday morning , catching 97 birds, 57 new, with a 3 male Cetti's Warbler the highlight (Cetti's Warblers were also reported at Leighton Moss and Conway on the same day), although the most remarkable feature was the 14 new Reed Buntings caught and must have been part of an influx of birds moving on to the bed. 2 Redwings were the first of the year, part of a large passage of birds and 2 Lesser Redpolls were noteworthy.

Sightings included: No1 bed 16/10/2009: 2 Wigeon on the east pool, 2 Green Sandpipers, 10 Snipe, 2 Tawny Owls and a Water Rail. Visible passage included 1 Skylark, 15 Meadow Pipits, 1 Grey Wagtail, 20 Redwings, 10 Goldfinch, 1 Siskin and 8 Lesser Redpolls

No1 bed 17/10/2009: 1 Green Sandpiper, 5 Snipe, 2 Water rails, 22 Skylarks, 35 Meadow Pipits, 30 Fieldfare, 500 Redwings, 21 Siskin and 15 Lesser Redpolls.

No3 bed 17/10/2009: 1 Coal Tit over the car park, 1 Siskin and large numbers of Redwings.

10th October 2009 John and Tony had a quiet start to Saturday, but had a large catch, mostly in one net towards the end of the morning.

Kieran, Margaret and Stuart did well, (46 new and 15 retraps) retrapping a late Reed Warbler (their only warbler of the day), and adding Linnet to the ringing totals for the first time. It was a young male on the North Meadow. Linnet is a fairly good sighting in the centre of the bed even though they bred last year on the bund on the south bank. Five new Reed Buntings is noteworthy as they had only ringed 25 up to that point all year. Chaffinches are still showing good numbers with 10 new ringed as are Song Thrush with a further 3.

Sightings wise Stuart had a Barn Owl on the North Meadow just before dawn and unfortunately we only heard from Brian after we left but a permit holder had a singing male Cetti's Warbler late in the morning. Hopefully it will still be around at the weekend. It would be interesting to see if it is one of the young birds that David Norman ringed in Cheshire in the summer.

4th October 2009 The predicted poor weather meant that teams on both number 1 and number 3 bed decided to ring on sunday morning instead. Unforunately a few heavy showers at dawn reduced the ringing time by an hour.

Sightings on number three included single snipe and excellent numbers of Song Thrush c30+ still around the north meadow area, feeding on elder berries. As a result a further three ringed this week.

Meadow pipit passage is still going well on number 1.

September 2009 Sightings
September 26th 2009 The weather was nearly perfect for ringing on Saturday, light breeze and overcast with a fairly warm temperature.

John and Tony ringed on number one bed and caught an impressive 10 meadow pipits. Sightings there included three snipe.

Kieran, Hugh and Margaret opened the meadows and the phrag catching reasonably well during the morning. Highlights being the 400th Reed Warbler, 300th Blackcap and 100th Bullfinch for the year. These are the best totals for this area of the bed for these species. It was interesting to catch 6 different Song Thrushes during the morning (five new). They seemed to be everywhere on Saturday.

There was little in the way of migration over number three, just a single Skylark moving NW late in the morning.

September 19th 2009 Ringing took place on No1 bed on both the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with 134 new birds ringed, including an amazing 46 Chiffchaffs along with smaller numbers of other warblers and 11 Meadow Pipits.

The No3 bed team just ringed on the Saturday morning, ringing 45 new birds including 9 Reed warblers, 8 Blackcaps, 5 Chiffchaffs and a single Sedge Warbler.

Sightings included three early(ish) Redwing and three Snipe on No1 bed, while No3 had sightings of three separate Marsh Harriers, one Snipe, 1 Tawny Owl, 1 Redpoll and a Grey Wagtail.

September 12th 2009 Dave Riley was joined by Phil Guest, Steve Menzie and Chris Bridge for the Friday afternoon session on No1, catching 56 birds (42 new), including the fifth and sixth Nuthatches to be ringed at the Eyes, other unusual birds for the afternoon included Treecreeper, Sparrowhawk and three Coal Tits (two new). For the Saturday session, Phil and Dave were joined by Tony Davis and John Blundell, catching 88 birds, including good numbers of Chiffchaffs, Reed Warblers and Blackcaps, along with solitary Sedge Warbler, Garden Warbler and Whitethroat.

Michael Miles spent the majority of Friday on No3 bed, catching 101 birds (71 new) including the bed's first Goldfinch to be ringed this year, while being joined by Kieran Foster, Hugh Pulsford and Margaret Rawlings for the Saturday morning session when a further 133 birds (111 new) were caught. Again, good numbers of Reed Warblers (18) and Blackcaps (44) were ringed, although possibly the most noteworthy catch was 14 new Dunnock, 10 of which came from the same 18m net.

No unusual sightings were noted.

September 5th 2009 The breezy conditions of Friday afternoon restricted the ringing on No1 bed to the more sheltered sites resulting in twelve birds caught, all new with eleven warblers including eight Chiffchaffs. Saturday morning was more settled and 53 birds were caught on No1 (49 new), including the third Sparrowhawk of the year for the bed.

Kierhan and Hugh worked No3 bed on the Saturday, catching 125 birds (100 new), including 65 new warblers, with 35 Blackcaps and 15 Reed Warblers comprising the bulk of them.

Sightings included a Hobby and a Tawny Owl on No1, while 3 Tree Pipits, 3 Grey Wagtails, 2 Tawny Owls, 1 Marsh harrier and a Curlew were all seen on No3 bed.

August 2009 Sightings
30th August 2009 Ringing took place on beds 1 and 3 on the Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, the afternoon was breezy with the occasional light shower, with calmer conditions towards evening, The Sunday morning was almost perfect, with calm and sunny conditions, although a light breeze did get up towards lunchtime.

Dave Riley and Alan Hitchmough caught well from first light, ending up with a final total of 128 new birds, including the first Spotted Flycatcher to be caught at the Eyes since 2001, they also caught their fourth Tree Pipit of the year. 75 warblers were ringed, including 35 Blackcaps and 16 Reed Warblers along with single Garden Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat.

Kieran Foster and Margaret Rawlings ringed on No3 bed on the Sunday morning, ringing 114 new birds, including 56 warblers with 29 Blackcaps and 20 Reed Warblers proving the bulk of those. 33 Chaffinches was an unusually high total for that species, while Bullfinch numbers continue to creep up with another eight ringed.

Sightings included: No1 bed: 50 Goldfinches, 100 Swallows going south, 10 Meadow Pipits, 3 Tree pipits (besides the one ringed) going south, 2 Siskin, 20 Linnets and 20 Swifts seen over the entrance to the reserve.

No3 bed: 250 Lapwing flying west, 2 Grey Lag Geese going north and 3 Grey Wagtails west.

22nd August 2009 Dave Riley and Cath Smith were on No1 bed from 11am Friday morning and managed to avoid the showers during the afternoon, as they passed to the north of Warrington. It was a little breezy, but 38 birds were caught, including the only two Garden Warblers for the weekend on that bed. The weather on the Saturday morning was much better, probably too good in fact, as the sun shone almost from dawn, but there was little wind, and a further 106 birds were caught, including their first Jay for two years, another two Kingfishers and another two Tree Pipits - this is the first year that more than two Tree Pipits have been caught. Good numbers of warblers (78) are still present, including, amongst others, 6 Sedge Warblers (none caught the previous week), 18 Reed Warblers, 20 Blackcaps, 15 Chiffchaffs and nine Willow Warblers.

The No3 bed team started off Saturday morning really well, with a first round of over 60 birds and caught steadily during the morning to end up with a total of 200 birds (168 new), again with large numbers of warblers (109), including 11 Sedge Warblers, 39 Reed Warblers, 8 Whitethroats, 6 Garden Warblers and 38 Blackcaps. There were some indications of a fall on the bed, with sights like 4 Lesser Whitethroats in one bush, which must be unprecedented for Woolston.

Other sightings included: Common Sandpiper and Tawny Owl on No1 bed, along with 2 Hobbys and a sub-adult Marsh Harrier on No3 bed.

15th August 2009 The team on No1 bed managed to avoid the rain on both the Friday and Saturday, catching 114 new birds, including their first Tree Pipit for two years, their first Woodpigeon and Kingfisher (2) of the year and their second Sparrowhawk, other birds of note included 3 garden Warblers and 2 Willow Tits, while the total was enhanced by 22 Chiffchaffs, 11 Reed Warblers and 9 Willow Warblers. A small hirundine roost has formed in the main reed bed resulting in 13 Swallows and a single Sand Martin being ringed.

No3 bed was worked on the Thursaday and Saturday mornings, ringing 187 new birds out of a total of 251 birds caught, including 43 Reed Warblers, 8 Sedge Warblers (none caught on No1 bed), their third Lesser Whitethroat of the year, 20 Blackcaps and 19 Chiffchaffs. 5 Garden Warblers was an excellent total and a single Willow Tit added to what appears to be a good total of that species for the year.

Sightings included a small roost of 30 Linnets on No1 along with five Swift seen moving south over the same bed on the Saturday. No 3 bed had 3 Redshank on the Thursday and 4 Common Terns on the Saturday.

Finally, congratulations to Margaret Rawlings and Hugh Pulsford, who have been put forward for their A permits.

8th August 2009 During the week ringing took place on No1 bed during Friday and Saturday morning and on No3 bed on Monday and Saturday mornings. The team on No1 bed caught 177 new birds, including high numbers of Reed Warbler (31), Chiffchaff (23) and Willow Warbler (32), with other highlights being 11 Swallows, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Garden Warblers and 3 Linnets. The No3 bed team tried the hirundine roost on that bed, catching an excellent 44 Sand Martins and 21 Swallows, while other interesting catches included 50 Reed Warblers, 2 Garden Warblers, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Moorhens, 3 Jays and a Sparrowhawk.

Sightings included: No1 bed: Hobby seen on both Friday and Saturday, 1 Swift, 1 Tawny Owl and four Tree Sparrows flying north.

No3 bed: 200 Swallows roosting and 5 Water Rails.

1st August 2009 Kieran took advantage of the school holidays and Michael his new retirement status to avoid the weekend showers and ring on Tuesday morning, Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. These session resulted in an excellent 217 new birds ringed in the centre of No3 bed, out of 271 caught. The totals were dominated by warblers, as usual, including 49 Reed, 22 Sedge, 22 Blackcap and 16 Chiffchaffs. The feeding station on the bed has been stocked and resulted in good numbers of finches caught, including 16 Chaffinch, 23 Greenfinch and 15 Bullfinches, while larger birds caught included three each of Jay and Moorhen. Scarcer birds were their second Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler.

The No1 bed team had to work around the showers on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, ringing 60 new birds, including 12 Willow Warblers, 2 Sand Martins and a single Linnet.

July 2009 Sightings
25th July 2009 Another excellent session, after a brief shower on the Friday afternoon ended at 13.00, the weather conditions weren't quite perfect for the afternoon because of a light breeze, but Saturday produced perfect weather.

Dave Riley was joined on No1 bed by Cath Smith and Tony Davis on the Friday while John Blundell and Sam Bailey (a visiting ringer from Sussex) were present on the Saturday. A total of 238 birds were processed with 217 new, including 164 warblers of nine species, most numerous species were Reed Warbler with 44 new closely followed by Willow Warbler (42) and Chiffchaff (33). More unusual species included Grasshopper Warbler (1), Lesser Whitethroat (2) and Garden Warbler (7), while 3 Swallows and 2 Sand Martins were caught on the Saturday morning as they left the roost. Neville Powell operated on the east side of No3 bed, catching 16 new birds, including the 2 Reed Warblers that brought up the 100 for the weekend, while the centre of that bed was ringed by Kieran Foster and Michael Miles along with Lisa Warvill and Stuart Piner on the Saturday, over the period they caught 124 new birds out of 154 caught, including an amazing 54 new Reed Warblers (plus one UK control). They also had their first go at a hirundine roost, catching 9 Sand Martins.

Sightings included Hobbys on both beds.

18th July 2009 The breezy conditions with passing, light showers restricted the Friday session to a couple of sheltered rides, 31 birds were caught on No1 bed, while the weather conditions were somewhat better on the Saturday morning, although still a little breezy, it didn't rain until the afternoon, allowing ringing on both beds 1 and 3. 72 new birds were ringed on No1 including their first two Garden Warblers and seven Sedge Warblers along with good numbers of other warblers, notably Reed, Willow and Chiffchaff. On No3, 41 new birds were ringed, again, with agood number of warblers.

Sightings were restricted to a small passage of Pied Wagtails on No3 had fly overs of Oystercatcher, Curlew, Whimbrel and Grey Wagtail, while a Hobby was seen at least twice.

11th July 2009 Excellent ringing conditions over the two days produced the highest totals of new birds ringed so far this year, 307 over the two days.

On No1 bed, Phil Guest, Steve Menzie and Dave Riley made the most of the conditions and caught over 100 birds (96 new) with Chiffchaff taking top spot with 19 ringed, closely followed by Willow and Reed Warblers with 14 and 12 respectively. Alan Hitchmough joined Phil and Dave the following morning and a further 116 new birds were ringed, including 26 Reed Warblers, 15 Willow Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, their first Treecreeper of the year and 2 juvenile Siskins.

Michael Miles was alone on No3 bed on the Friday afternoon but was joined by Hugh Pulsford for the Saturday morning session, catching 116 birds, 97 new, including 11 Reed Warblers, 17 Blackcaps and 15 Chiffchaffs along with their first juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker and Lesser Whitethroat of the year.

180 warblers were ringed during the session, approximately 60% of the total new birds, but very few Sedge Warblers were caught, just a single retrap on No1 but 3 new and 3 retrap on No3, while only two Garden Warblers have been ringed so far this year.

The only sighting of note was of a pair of well grown lapwing chicks on the No3 bed scrape.

4th July 2009 Ringing took place on No1 bed on both the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with 131 new birds ringed, including a surprise juvenile Siskin and their first Sparrowhawk of the year. Good numbers of warblers were ringed, including 21 Reed Warblers, 21 Chiffchaffs and 18 Reed Warblers, while the five new Willow Tits may be a session record.

Michael Miles spent most of the afternoon (following the rain) strimming out the encroaching Himalayan Balsam before opening any nets, with nine birds caught (seven new, one retrap and one UK control).The following morning produce 87 new birds and 23 retraps, with three new Willow Tits and three new Treecreepers, and an excellent 31 new Reed Warblers.

Sightings included a Redshank on No3 bed scrape and a further four Siskins and two Green Woodpeckers on the Saturday on No1 bed.

June 2009 Sightings
27th June 2009 With the Woolston Eyes Open Day taking place on Sunday, there was ringing activity over three days at the weekend, including Friday afternoon and Saturday morning on No1 bed and from 10am to 4pm Sunday on in the centre of No3 bed. Neville Powell and Matt Geary also had there first session at the east end of No3, catching 44 birds of which 34 were new, including a Willow Tit and 5 Blackcaps.

Apart from the odd shower, weather conditions were near perfect, particularly on the Saturday morning, with no wind and overcast skies, as a result, 170 birds were caught on No1 (137 new), including 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Coal Tit, their first Goldfinches of the year, excellent numbers of Chiffchaffs (26) and Blue Tits (28).

The Open Day, was a great success, with many very positive comments about the ringing demonstration, 51 new birds were caught, including 7 Reed Warblers, so there was plenty to show to the members of the public. The majority of the birds were ringed before 1pm, and a brief afternoon shower meant we had to close the nets for an hour or so.

Sightings were a little restricted, and included single Curlew and Oystercatcher, both over No1.

20th June 2009 The breezy conditions of Friday afternoon kept numbers of birds down on No1 bed, although a British control Reed Warbler was caught. The conditions on the Saturday morning were much better and the teams were out on both No1 and No3 beds, with good numbers of juvenile birds caught at the two sites, including an excellent total of Chiffchaffs on No3, while it looks as though the Blue Tits have had a good year at last with 12 new juveneiles caught on No1 bed.

Sightings included three broods of Little Grebe on No1 bed and Water Rail calling there.

13th June 2009 It was very near perfect ringing conditions over the weekend, although late Saturday morning did get a little too bright.

Teams were out on both beds one and three on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning to take advantage of the weather, as a result the number of birds ringed was the highest this year. 123 new birds were caught on No3 bed, with many young birds caught including the first juvenile Reed Warbler of the year and an amazing 21 Chiffchaffs along with a British control and the french ringed bird from earlier this year.

104 birds were ringed on No1 bed, including juvenile Goldcrests (2) and juvenile Coal Tit, while the 24 Sand Martins caught on the Friday evening was a larger total than caught on the bed most years!

Sightings included: 12/06/2009: No1 bed -1 Water Rail, 50+ Sand Martins (roosting), 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Yellow Wagtail and 1 Raven

No 3 bed - 1 Barn Owl, 1 Cuckoo.

13/06/2009: No1 bed - 3 Grey Lag Geese and Water Rail young calling

No 3 bed - 1 adult Mediterranean Gull

6th June 2009 The extremely wet Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, reduced the ringing on No1 bed to 3 or four hours with a restricted amount of netting used. Seven House Martins were the Highlight, along with the first juvenile Robins and Blackbirds for the bed this year.

Mike Miles took advantage of his new retired status and had an eleven hour session on 4th on No3 bed, catching 52 birds (38 new), including 22 juvenile Long-tailed Tits and three each of Blue and Great Tits ringed in nestboxes earlier this year, also caught were the first juvenile Reed Buntings and Blackcaps of the year.

Sightings included 1 Oystercatcher, 150 Swift and 50+ House Martins all on No1 bed.

May 2009 Sightings
16th May 2009 to 30th May 2009 Over the three weekends only one brief session took place on No1 bed, while two Friday/Saturday session took place on No3 bed.

Juvenile birds have started to be caught, including the expected Long-tailed Tits, Dunnocks and Robins, although the Willow Tit caught on No3 was a bit early for the site. The totals for that bed include a number of pulli tits, notably Great Tits, which appear to have had a better breeding season than Blue Tits. An interesting retrap from there was a Wren that has moved from No1 bed, an unusual movement.

Sightings, all from No3, include Black Tern and Hobby on 16th. On the second session (29th-30th), a brood of 11 Shelduck was seen along with eight Oystercatchers flying east up the MSC.

9th May 2009 Ringing took place on No1 bed on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, and altough the former was a little breezier, more birds were caught then, including the first Redstart to be ringed at the Eyes since 2003, while the second Grasshopper Warbler of the year for the bed was caught the following morning, when the first pulli of the year, two Reed Buntings, were also ringed.

The No3 bed team were present on the Saturday morning only, ringing 38 birds, including a number of Blue and Great Tit pullus.

Sightings included 10 Tufted Duck, Water Rail, Tawny Owl, 50+ Swift, 1 Cuckoo and 2 Wheatear, all on No1 bed.

2nd May 2009 In the abscence of Dave Riley and Alan Hitchmough, John Blundell and Tony Davis took the helm on Saturday on No1 bed, catching 19 birds, 8 new, including the first new Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat for the bed this year. Meanwhile on No3 bed, the team of four opened 22 nets, catching a total of 58 birds with 36 new, including their first Grasshopper Warbler of the year and 12 different Sedge Warblers.

Sightings included 1 Snipe and singing Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler all on No1, while No3 bed produced 1 Cuckoo and 5 buzzards together.

April 2009 Sightings
25th April 2009 Ringing took place on No1 bed on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with Dave Riley and Steve Menzie present for both sessions and Helen Williams and Roger Short paying a visit from Devon. 47 birds were caught with only 13 new, which included the first Lesser Whitethroat and Reed Warbler of the year along with the second Snipe. A control male redpoll sp. proved a little difficult to tie down to species, as it was showing some characteristics of both Common and Lesser, with virtually unstreaked undertail coverts and a wing length of 73mm, it will be interesting to find out what it was ringed originally as.

Michael Miles was present on No3 bed for the Friday afternoon and was joined by Stuart Piner for the Saturday session, catching 35 birds with 20 new, including five species of warbler. Also of interest was a control Reed Warbler.

No1 bed: 2 Snipe, 1 Common Tern, Tawny Owl, 216 Sand Martins (roosting), 1 House Martin, 1 Redstart, 4 Sedge Warblers, 12+ Reed Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats and 6 Whitethroats.

No3 bed: 1 Snipe, 1 Little Gull, 8 Swifts, 1 Tree Pipit and 1 Wheatear

18th April 2009 Ringing took place on No1 bed for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon and all Saturday morning, with Dave Riley there for both sessions, along with Steve Menzie and Cath Smith on the Friday and Alan Hitchmough and Sam Bailey on the Saturday morning. A total of 43 birds were caught over the two sessions, including the first Green Woodpecker, Grasshopper Warbler and Sedge warbler (retrap) of the year and a further two Linnets and four Lesser Redpolls.

The No3 bed team caught 50 birds, 22 new, including a Mistle Thrush, eight Lesser Redpolls and another new Bullfinch (out of 10 caught).

Sightings included:

No1 bed: Snipe, Tawny Owl, 1 Tree Pipit, 3 Grasshopper Warblers, 2 Sedge Warblers, 7 Reed Warblers and 5 Siskin.

No3 bed: up to 1 Hobby, 1 Snipe, 2 Artic Terns, 3 Grasshopper Warblers, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Siskin and 20 Lesser Redpolls.

11th April 2009 Ringing took place on both beds 1 and 3 on the Saturday only.

51 birds were caught on No1 bed with 33 new, including 4 Song Thrushes, 3 Willow Warblers, 1 Blackcap, 1 Linnet (all first to be ringed on the bed this year) and 11 Lesser Redpolls. The retraps included 11 Willow Warblers, the majority of which were ringed in 2007, it appears that they may have had a good winter with the experienced birds returning first. A Lesser Redpoll was also retrapped, this one having been ringed in 2005.

22 birds were caught on No3, with seven new, including their first Willow Warbler of the year and their second Jay.

Sightings included:

10-04-2009 - No1 bed: 2 Reed Warblers

11-04-2009 - No1 bed: 6 Buzzard, 1 Peregrine, 1 Snipe, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Water Rail, 1 Redwing, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Whitethroat, 3 Blackcap, 20+ Willow Warblers and 1 Tree Sparrow.

No3 bed: 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Whitethroat and good numbers of Willow Warblers.

4th April 2009 Ringing took place on 3th on both beds 1 and 3 with No1 only on 4th. The Friday proved to be the better of the two days fo the No1 team, with 40 birds caught, including 18 new, the highlight being a late male Brambling, while 15 birds were caught there the following day which included one of three Willow Warblers that arrived during the night, it was a ringed bird, originally caught as an adult on 10th June 2005. Lesser Redpolls caught in good numbers, with seven new birds ringed.

The No3 bed team caught 15 birds including a returning Blackcap and a another Brambling which had a fat score of zero, so it may be around for a while yet.

Sightings included; No1 bed

03-04-2009 - 2 Snipe, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 4 Water Rails, 5 Swallows, 4 Sand Martins, 1 Tawny Owl and a Siskin

04-04-2009 - 1 Curlew, 1 Swallow, 1 Blackcap and 3 Willow Warblers

No3 bed: 03-04-2009 - 12 Black-necked Grebes, 1 Peregrine, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Snipe and 7 Sand Martins.

March 2009 Sightings
28th March 2009 Breezy conditions restricted the ringing on both beds 1 and 3, with only six birds ringed out of 28 caught, although this did include 2 Brambling.

Sightings were also limited, with the weather conditions holding up migrants, but Chiffchaffs were still present in small numbers and a Sand Martin was on No3 bed.

21st March 2009 Dave Riley ringed on No1 bed on 20th with Alan Hitchmough ringing on 21st, 22 new birds were ringed including a male Brambling and the first Chiffchaffs (3) of the year. Michael Miles and Stuart Piner ringed on No3 bed on the Saturday, ringing 12 new birds out of 24 caught, as with No1 bed, they also caught a Brambling and their first Chiffchaff of the year.

Sightings included 9 Buzzards, Peregrine, 5 Chiffchaffs, 22 Redwings and a Siskin, all on No1 and 1 Snipe, 2 Shelduck and a further five singing Chiffchaffs on No3 bed.

14th March 2009 The No1 bed ringing team had a session on the Friday, catching 23 new birds, although only five were new, including four Reed Buntings and a Chaffinch, the Saturday morning was too breezy to mist net.

Sightings on the bed included 1 Oystercatcher, 2 Snipe, 1 Kingfisher, 150 Fieldfare (including 50 roosting), 50 Linnets (roosting) and 6 Lesser Redpolls (all Friday 13th), also seen on 14th were 2 Greylag Geese and 2 Stock Doves.

7th March 2009 Ringing took place on No1 bed on both the Friday afternoon and the Saturday morning. On the Friday, 31 birds were caught, but only ten new, which included a Stock Dove and a Moorhen - the first to be ringed on the bed for a number of Years, John Blundell and Tony Davis worked the bed on the Saturday morning, catching the first Snipe on the bed for two years, before moving to No2 bed to catch their second male Stonechat in two weeks.

No3 bed was worked on the Saturday morning only, catching 17 birds with six new, the highlight being two Goldcrests, a species that has been noticeable by it's absence recently.

Sightings included:

No1 bed: 1 Water Rail, eight Snipe, one Long-eared Owl and 12 Fieldfare roosting, with non-avian including two bumblebees and a pipistrelle sp.

No2 bed: 2 Stonechats

No3 bed: 4 Water Rails together, 2 male Ruddy Duck, a Buzzard and a Brambling.

February 2009 Sightings
28/02/2009 Ringing took place on beds 1, 2 and 3 over the weekend, 15 birds were caught on No1 on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with the highlight being a male Brambling, the third one to be caught on the bed this year, after a complete blank last year.

John Blundell and Tony Davis caught only the fourth Stonechat for the reserve, a stunning male, on No2 bed, it was the first to be caught since 2006, while the team on No3 bed ringed seven new birds out of fifteen caught.

The only sightings of note were from No1 bed, with 91 Fieldfare coming to roost and two Woodcock, including one seen flying high from the east before dropping down to presumably land on the west side of the bed.

21/02/2009 Another slow weekend, although it did produce the best total of the year so far on No1 bed, who ringed 14 new birds out of 30 caught, which included their first Coal Tit of the year along withre-trapped Brambling and Bullfinch, both of which were originally ringed on No3 bed.

The No3 bed team caught just three new birds, including the first Goldcrest for the reserve this year.

Sightings on No1 bed included:

20-02-2009: 1 Woodcock, 6 Snipe, the first trilling Little Grebes of the year (2), 20 Fieldfare roosting.

21-02-2009: 40 Fieldfare, 3 Yellowhammer, 4 Siskin.

31/01/2009 to 14/02/2009 The dearth of birds continues, with low numbers coming to the feeders on both beds, however a new species for Woolston was caught and ringed on 31st Jan with a Female Serin, on No3 bed, only the 26th to be ringed in the 100 year history of the ringing scheme.

The only sighting of note from last weekend was two Grey Partridge on No1 bed.

January 2009 Sightings
24th January 2009 Birds still a bit thin on the ground, with six birds ringed on No1 and four on No3, although the male Brambling caught on No1 was the first for a number of years.

Sightings included a Snipe on No1 and five Goldeneyes and three Shelduck on No3.

17th January 2009 The expected strong winds didn't materialise, so the only ringing on No1 bed was on the Friday when three new birds were caught, finches having found the feeding station again.

The team on the more sheltered No3 bed caught eleven new birds including another Moorhen, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Brambling and a Lesser Redpoll.

Sightings included a Jack Snipe on No1.

10th January 2009 A poor start so far on No1 bed, with only one new bird ringed so far this year, although the team on No3 are doing somewhat better, with nine new birds including Water Rail and Jay along with four new Blackbirds.

Sightings included 180+ Pink-footed Geese over No1 and a Woodcock on No3.

December 2008 Sightings
27th December 2008 Helen Williams caught four Fieldfare on No1, the first there for a couple of years, while the team on No3 caught another wintering Chiffchaff.

Main sighting of note was of three Waxwings seen leaving the No3 bed Starling roost.

20th December 2008 Brambling continue to be caught on No3, while the Chiffchaff was the first December bird to be ringed for three years.

13th December 2008 Ringing took place on No1 bed for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon and all Sunday morning, with Dave Riley there for both sessions. Just a single net was opened for the sessions, at the feeding station. The only 'unusual' bird caught was a Woodpigeon, the fourth to be ringed on the bed this year. On the down side, no Willow Tits were caught or heard during the two sessions, almost unheard of!

Sightings included:

No1 bed: 12/12/2008

3 Snipe,

14/12/2008

1 Woodcock, 1 Short-eared Owl (the first sighting on the bed for a few years), 250+ Pink-footed Geese (flying south, then south-east at 10.35).

6th December 2008 Ringing took place on No1 bed on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with Alan Hitchmough and Dave Riley, there for both sessions, being joined by Liz Kerr, John Blundell and Tony Davis on the Saturday. Just four nets were opened for the sessions, with three being closed mid Saturday morning to them being visible with the frost, highlight of the ringing was three Lesser redpolls.

The ringing team on No3 bed was depleted due to various reasons, Kieran Foster using the excuse of getting married on the Friday for not ringing! The team was represented by Michael Miles and Margaret Rawlings, who had an excellent morning, catching 75 birds (53 new), including an excellent 22 Chaffinches, 2 Bramblings, 1 Goldfinch and 7 Lesser Redpolls. They also retrapped a Lesser Redpoll originally ringed on 8th October 2005.

Sightings included:

No1 bed:

2 Snipe, 2 Woodcock, 1 Peregrine, 12 lesser Redpolls

No3 bed:

Good Numbers of finches on the winter feed crop, with about 250 birds present, mostly Chaffinches, but also smaller numbers of Reed Buntings and Bramblings.

November 2008 Sightings
29th November 2008 Ringing took place on No1 bed on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with Alan Hitchmough, Dave Riley and Steve Menzie there for both sessions, being joined by John Blundell and Tony Davis on the Saturday. Excellent numbers of Greenfinches were caught along with a good total of Chaffinch, while the two Magpies caught late on Friday afternoon were only the second and third for the bed this year. Low numbers of Goldcrests are still being caught along with a few Lesser Redpolls.

Kieran arrived on No3 bed on the Friday afternoon, hoping to catch a few Starling going to roost (about 2,500 birds) and was duly rewarded with a single bird, the first to be caught on the reserve this year, and the first to be ringed on No3 for a number of years. Saturday morning dawned with mist, but thankfully no frost and very little wind, Kieran and co were rewarded with six Redwings, a Magpie and excellent numbers of Greenfinches. The seed crop is now starting to attract birds, with almost 100 birds present, mostly Chaffinches, but also Reed Buntings and a single Brambling.

Sightings included:

No1 bed:

28/11/2008: 2 Snipe, 1 Woodcock

29/11/2008: 3 Tawny Owls, 4 Woodcock, 10 Redwing, 5 Fieldfare and a Green Woodpecker

No3 bed:

28/11/2008: 2 Sparrowhawks

29/11/2008: 1 Woodcock, 2 Tawny Owls, 1 Kingfisher, 40 Fieldfare and another Kingfisher on the loop.

22nd November 2008 Ringing took place on No1 bed on Saturday morning. Alan Hitchmough arriving at 06.20 as the temperature was only 3 deg C, while John Blundell and Tony Davis arrived at dawn to carry out some maintenance work to their rides. During the morning Alan caught 23 birds, including the second Common Redpoll for the bed in 2008.

The No3 bed team set up a medium size cage trap on the bed and were rewarded with five Teal and a Moorhen, unfortunately a sixth Teal escaped, but hopes are high for further duck catches. Other birds of interest caught during the morning included two Redwing, two brambling and their sixth Lesser Redpoll of the year.

Sightings included:

No1 bed:

22/11/2008: 1 Chiffchaff, 20 Chaffinch, 60 Greenfinch, 1 Brambling and 1 Yellowhammer

22/11/2008: 3 Whooper Swans

15th November 2008 Ringing took place on No1 bed on both the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Dave Riley was present from 13.00, working the east end of the bed, while Alan Hitchmough was there from 06.00 on the Saturday morning, working the centre of the bed and the feeding station. Dave had a reasonably successful afternoon, catching 23 birds including seven Lesser Redpolls and a retrap Green Woodpecker

The following morning they were joined by Liz Kerr, Ron Bromby and John Crowther, but the morning was fairly quiet, although a Treecreeper was the sixth of the year for the bed.

The ringing team on No3 had a successful morning, catching 61 birds with 41 new, including their third Sparrowhawk of the year, three more Moorhens, two Redwings and their first Brambling for this winter period. Another success for the team was Michael Miles having his trainers endorsement approved by the BTO. Congratulations to him.

Sightings included:

No1 bed:

14/11/2008: 1 Siskin, 35+ Goldfinch and a small movement of Skylarks and Thrushes

15/11/2008: Southerly movement included 20+ Lesser redpolls, 5 Siskins, 20+ Redwing and 50+ Fieldfare while 3000+ Woodpigeons went north.

8th November 2008 Ringing on No1 bed took place on the Thursday afternoon, Friday afternoon and all day Saturday, highlights included 59 Greenfinches, 1 Siskin and a Stock Dove. The No3 bed Team were down on the Saturday morning only, catching 19 new birds including 3 Moorhens, 2 Magpies and 2 Lesser Redpolls.

Sightings included Long-eared Owl, Jack Snipe, Merlin and a good passage of Fieldfares and Redwings, all on No1, while No3 bed hosted a roost of 2,000 Starlings being hunted by 2 Sparrowhawks, 1 Siskin and a small passage of Redwings. The winter feed crop is starting to attract finches, with about 30 Chaffinches present.

October 2008 Sightings
25th October Ringing took place on No1 bed on both the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Dave Riley was present from 13.00, working the east end of the bed, being joined during the afternoon by Alan Hitchmough, who worked the centre of the bed. The highlight for Dave during the afternoon was the first Siskin to be caught at Woolston for two years

The following morning they were joined by Steve Menzie and Liz Kerr, and on the first round of the morning, the only bird Alan caught was a first calendar year female Cetti's Warbler, the fifth for Woolston and the third for No1 bed. This was the first weekend since starting the feeding station and helped towards a good total of 27 Greenfinches, while Goldcrests were still present in reasonable numbers with eight new birds ringed.

Sightings included:

No1 bed: 24/10/2008: Southerly movement included 2 Skylarks, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail, 9 Goldfinch and 9 Siskin. Roosting birds included 40 Starling and 50+ Reed Buntings, while corvids going to roost included 250 each of Jackdaw and Rook. Other sighting included 2 Water Rails and 1 Tawny Owl, while Redwings were heard calling throughout the night as they moved west.

25/10/2008: Westerly movement included 50+ Lapwings, 100+ Fieldfare and 20+ Redwing while 4 Siskins flew south.

18th October Ringing took place on No1 bed on both the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Dave Riley was present from 13.00, working the east end of the bed, being joined during the late afternoon by Alan Hitchmough, who worked the centre of the bed. Dave caught their first Sparrowhawk of the year for No1 along with their eighth Great Spotted Woodpecker and fifth Treecreeper, while Alan caught single Chiffchaff and Goldcrest on the one round he managed to get in before dusk. A flock of 120 Pink-footed Geese flew northwest just before dusk.

The following morning they were joined by Steve Menzie, before dawn and Redwings were already on the move, as dawn came, it was apparent that there had been a fall of Goldcrests, with birds seeming to call from every bush and Redwings were moving west throughout the morning. The weather was still at first light, but the wind increased from the south during the morning. A total of 68 new birds were ringed over the two days, with Greenfinch topping the totals list with 28 birds, although the 21 Goldcrests supported the 'fall' theory. Other than the species above, little else seemed to be on the move, reducing the diversity of species ringed.

Kieran Foster and Stuart Piner ringed on No3 for the Sunday morning, catching a further two Moorhens in the traps along with a Water Rail first ringed in January of this year, they also caught the first Redwing of the Autumn for the reserve.

Sightings included:

No1 bed: 17/10/2008: 120 Pink-footed Geese, 1 Green Woodpecker, 4 Goldcrests, southerly movement included 2 Skylarks, 3 Meadow Pipits and 2 Pied Wagtails

18/10/2008: 2100+ Redwings, 112 Fieldfare, 45 Starlings (all flying west), 500+ Woodpigeons, 6 Stock Doves, 1 Collared Dove, 40 Meadow Pipits, 5 Grey Wagtails, 1 Pied Wagtail, 12 Goldfinch, 13 Chaffinch, 3 Siskin, 16 Skylarks, 5 Lesser Redpolls (all flying south), 40 Goldcrests, 4 Sparrowhawks, 2 Kestrels, 1 Tawny Owl, 2 Yellowhammers, 1 Kingfisher and three Ravens (2 west, 1 north)

No3 bed (19/10/2008): 2 Snipe, good Redwing passage, but numbers not noted.

11th October Ringing took place on No1 bed on both the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. Dave Riley was joined by Phil Guest for the Friday session, but the breezy conditions restricted the number of birds caught to just five, which included their eighth Goldfinch of the year. During the evening, Dave was joined by Alan Hitchmough, Helen Williams, Steve Menzie and Liz Kerr for the final 'barbie' of the year. The following morning, the conditions were excellent for ringing, overcast with little wind, but there wasn't much diurnal passage, resulting in low numbers of finches caught, highlights included 4 Chiffchaffs, 7 Goldcrests and 8 Lesser Redpolls.

Kieran Foster and Margaret Rawlins ringed on No3 for the Saturday morning, having an excellent session with the traps, catching 6 Moorhen and a Water Rail, while the nets produced, amongst others, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Blackcap, 2 Goldcrests and 3 Lesser Redpolls.

Sightings included:

No1 bed: 10/10/2008: 1 female Peregrine, 1 Buzzard and 1 Tawny Owl

11/10/2008: 3 Skylark, 20 Meadow Pipits, 20 Grey Wagtails, 10 Pied Wagtails, 1 Fieldfare, 30 Redwing, 28 Chaffinch, 10 Greenfinch, 30 Lesser Redpolls (all south), 4 Water Rail, 6 Chiffchaffs, a very late Willow Warbler (singing) and 1 Coal Tit

No3 bed: 1 late Reed Warbler

4th October We started the weekend needing 99 new birds to meet our target of 100,000 birds ringed since David Norman ringed the first bird at the Eyes on 31st August 1980 and following the excellent weather of the previous two weeks, this weekend was a little more varied, with Friday being mainly sunny with a little cloud and what wind there was dying down towards dusk, while the forecasted rain fo Saturday morning failed to materialise until afternoon, although the winds did start to increase as the morning went on.

Dave Riley and Alan Hitchmough were joined by Steve Menzie for the Friday afternoon session on No1 bed, catching good numbers of Chiffchaffs and their third Water Rail in as many weeks, Alan and Dave stayed over until the Saturday, catching fewer birds overall but excellent numbers of Goldcrests, with a weekend total of 23. By the end of their session at lunchtime, a further 3 birds were needed to reach the target, Michael Miles and Kieran Foster gamely decided to continue until it was met. The target was finally achieved when a Moorhen strolled into on of the well-positioned potter trap, it should have got a gold ring, but the guys had to make do with a standard BTO ring, FP98158. other highlights on No3 included their 5th Water Rail of the year.

Helen Williams was joined by Roger Short, on No1 bed, for a late start on the Sunday morning after rain, catching two new Kingfishers and an excellent 28 new Long-tailed Tits, producing a weekend total for this species of 41 for the bed.

The highlight of the sightings was an over flying Richard's Pipit, the first record for the Eyes, seen and heard well by Alan Hitchmough on No1 bed, other sightings included:

All No1 bed:

03/10/2008: 80+ Swallows, 4 House Martins, 1 Redwing (all flying south), 2 Reed Warblers. 20 + Chiffchaffs, 2 Tawny Owls, 4 Water Rails, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Nuthatch.

04/10/2008: 20+ Swallows, 2 House Martins, 10 Skylarks, 20 Meadow Pipits, 114 Redwing, 4 Grey Wagtails, 2 Lesser Redpolls (all flying south), 2 male Peregrines together (local breeders?), 2 Mistle Thrush, 6 Jays, 50 + Lapwings and 1 Coal Tit

September 2008 Sightings
27th September 2008 We had excellent weekend, still a little too pleasant for ringing, with wall-to-wall sunshine, although it was a little cooler in the evening and morning.

On No1 bed, 102 new birds of 16 species were caught, including the second Water rail of the year and the first real catch of Greenfinches, with 25 ringed. 36 warblers were ringed including 26 Chiffchaffs, and what will probably be our last Sedge Warbler of the year. 31 finches were also ringed including the Greenfinches, five Chaffinch and a single Goldfinch and Goldcrests were well represented with 13 new birds caught.

The team on No3 bed caught 154 birds (118 new) of 18 species, including 30 warblers (5 Reed Warblers, 18 Blackcaps and 7 Chiffchaffs) and eight Bullfinches was a high total for late September.

Sightings included:

26/09/2008: (All No1 bed) 30 Swallows, 5 Pied Wagtails, 2 Grey Wagtails (all flying south), 3 Tawny Owls and 40+ Linnets (roosting)

27/09/2008: No1 bed - 30 Swallows, 1 Sand Martin, 1 Pied Wagtail, 10 Grey Wagtails, 15 Meadow Pipits, 15 Skylarks (all south), also present on the bed were 5 Snipe, 1 Common Sandpiper, 5 Jays and 1 Nuthatch

No3 bed - 1 Snipe, 2 Redwings and 2 Lesser Redpolls.

20th September 2008 We had excellent weather over the weekend, in fact it was a little too nice for ringing on the Saturday! Friday was still, with some hazy sunshine, while the following morning was more or less unbroken sunshine, making the nets easier to see.

On No1 bed, 91 birds of 18 species were caught, the highlights being the first Water Rail on the bed for about three years and the first Green Woodpecker of the year, completing the full set of woodpeckers (excluding Wryneck!) to be ringed in a year for the first time at Woolston. Reasonable numbers of warblers are still being caught, with 48 ringed on No1, including 25 Chiffchaffs, while nine Goldcrests was the first significant catch of the late Summer/Autumn, along with the two Meadow Pipits.

The team on No3 bed caught 137 birds, 122 new of 20 species, and use of the potter traps resulted in five juvenile Moorhens and a Coot being caught, other highlights included their first Goldcrest and Meadow Pipit of the year. A late Garden Warbler was the surprise among the 31 warblers ringed, while high numbers of Wren (12), Dunnock (9) and Robin (6) were also ringed.

All sightings of note were from No1 bed and included:

19/09/2008: Raptors included 6 Buzzards, 1 Peregrine, 1 Kestrel and 1 Sparrowhawk, while a small southerly movement of hirundines included 200+ Swallows and a House Martin, approximately 30 Chiffchaffs were calling around the east end of the bed and other sightings included 2 Little Grebes on the East Pool while 2 Pied Wagtails and a Grey flew south.

20/09/2008: Another good day for raptors, with 1 Peregrine, 1 Hobby, 2 Kestrel and 2 Sparrowhawks being seen, and a smaller movement of Hirundines included 100 Swallows and a House Martin. A southerly movement of other passerines included 30+ Skylarks, 50+ Meadow Pipits, 4 Grey Wagtails, 2 Siskins and a Lesser Redpoll.

29th August, 6th and 13th September Over the three weekends, ringing took place on No1 bed on the three, while the team on No3 were present on two occasions. Reasonable numbers of warblers are still being caught, with Blackcap the most numerous, 58 new birds being caught, while there was also 2 Sedge Warblers, 25 Reed, 2 Lesser Whitethroats (including only the second of the year on No3 bed), 11 Whitethroats, 3 Garden Warblers, 28 Chiffchaffs and 3 Willow Warblers. 31 Greenfinches represented the first big catch of the second period of the year for the No3 team, while singles of Sparrowhawk, Water Rail and Moorhen were all ringed on No3 bed.

Sightings over the period were all from No1 bed, unless stated.

29/08/2008: 1 Osprey going west, also seen over No3 bed 2 Hobbys, adult and juv. Catching dragonflies 1m, 1f Peregrine 1 Ringed Plover 2 Green Sandpipers (No3) 1 Tree Pipit 15 Starlings (unusual on No1) 1 Crossbill, flying south

06/09/2008: 16 Gadwall 1 Goosander 1 Osprey, circled the bed, then slowly drifted south-west 1 Harris hawk, with jesses 3 Water Rails 1 Kingfisher 1 Swift 1 small swift sp, with deeply forked tail, seen feeding with swallow, but other detail could not be seen 2 Grey Wagtails, flying south 1 juv. Grasshopper Warbler 1 Lesser Whitethroat 5 Garden Warblers 8 Blackcaps 10 Chiffchaffs

12-13/09/2008 1 male Goshawk flying east 85 Lapwing 1 Kingfisher 6 Sand Martins, flying south 300 Swallows, flying south 50+ House Martins, flying south 1 Pied Wagtail, flying south 4 Grey Wagtails, flying south 1 Sedge Warbler 1 Willow Warbler 20 Chaffinch

August 2008 Sightings
23rd August 2008 Just ringing on No1 bed this weekend with sessions on Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and Sunday morning. Dave Riley and Alan Hitchmough were joined for the first two session by Liam McDevitt from Ireland, while Helen Williams and Roger Short did the Sunday. 101 new birds were ringed, including all nine species of the commoner warblers on the Satuday morning, but two 1j Sedge warblers seemed to be very late (unless anyone knows any different), and the only bird with a significant fat was a Willow Warbler with a score of 4. The small hirundine roost produced three Sand martins and four Swallows, while a lone Kingfisher was the twelth this year to be ringed on the bed.

Sightings on the bed included a Hobby on the Friday evening at the roost, while what was presumed to be the same bird performed brilliantly on the Sunday morning, as it hawked for dragonflies at the eastern end of the bed. Other birds of note included a Water Rail on the track, a Little Owl at dusk on the Saturday, a small southerly passage of hirundines, including 300 Swallows and 100+ House Martins, a Tree Pipit, 1 Grey Wagtail and six Buzzards.

16th August 2008 The guys on No3 bed managed three sessions during the week, catching 100 new birds, while the Friday/Saturday sessions on No1 bed were fairly poor, although the first Coal Tit of the year on that bed was the last bird caught on the Saturday.

Sightings included 2 Common Sandpipers, single Green and Wood Sandpipers and 3 Water Rails all on No1 bed.

9th August 2008 Rain affected the sessions again, with the team on No1 getting the full Friday afternoon and until 09.00 on the Saturday morning, while David Norman did similar hours, but the No3 bed team managed sessions on 5th, Friday pm and Sunday morning, catching 188 new birds in the process, including their first Lesser Whitethroat and Goldfinches of the year, along with a Tree Pipit, which, I think, is the first to be caught on No3 since the mid-eighties. The highlight on No1 was another two Kingfishers, bringing the total there to 11 this year.

Sightings included (all from No3 bed): 2 Kingfishers, 150 Sand Martins (roosting), 1 Snipe, a Hobby carrying prey and a Tawny Owl.

Dave Riley and Alan Hitchmough managed to see a Water Rail on the track on No1.

2nd August 2008 The Friday afternoon was quite breezy, but the wind had eased by dusk, allowing reasonably successful catches of hirundines on both beds 1 and 3, with 29 Sand Martins and 46 Swallows ringed. Keiran also managed to catch the second Common Sandpiper to be ringed at the Eyes along with the second Moorhen of the year. Showers on the Saturday morning slowed the ringing effort down for a couple of hours, but the total of 268 birds ringed was still excellent, but the very low numbers of Blue and Great Tits is still a bit worrying, although Sedge Warblers are now being caught in reasonable numbers, particularly on No1.

Other warblers were also caught in reasonable numbers on No1 with 25 Willow Warblers standing out and the ninth Kingfisher and third Treecreeper of the year exceptional.

Little to report sightings-wise, but Snipe and Water Rail were both seen or heard on No1 where three Green Woodpeckers were also noted, the last species was also noted near the car park where it can best be described as very uncommon.

July 2008 Sightings
26th July 2008 After so many unproductive weeks, it was a real pleasure to have a weekend with perfect ringing conditions and the totals certainly bear that out with 388 birds ringed, out of well over four hundred caught! Among these were 247 warblers, including a massive 98 Reed Warblers and 68 Chiffchaffs, while birds not ringed that often included 2 Kingfishers, our third Grasshopper Warbler of the year and third to fifth Garden Warbler of the year. Hirundines were caught in better numbers that of late, with 57 Swallows and four Sand Martins ringed.

Dave Riley and John Blundell worked no1 bed, ringing 183 birds (including 120 warblers), with four finch sp. amongst them, notably three Goldfinches and two Linnets.

The No3bed (centre) team managed to ring 178 birds (including 109 warblers), with an excellent 41 Chiffchaffs the highlight, other notables included their first Treecreeper of the year and nine Bullfinches.

David Norman returned to the Eyes for the 29th year in a row, working the east side of No3 and catching 31 birds of which 27 were new, including 17 warblers. David noted that a few resident birds were still in breeding condition with no sign of moult.

Few sightings were noted, other than a Hobby over No3 on Friday and a large flock of Swifts (600+) over No1, presumably feeding on a hatch of insects.

19th July 2008 Because of the changeable conditions over the weekend, there was ringing on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Interesting birds caught included a Kingfisher, Swifts, Sand Martins and House Martins, while warblers are still being caught in low numbers.

The only sighting noted was of 2 Curlew and a Whimbrel over No1 bed.

12th July 2008 Still low totals for this time of the year, with breezy conditions on the Saturday hampering efforts. Three new Kingfishers were ringed on No1, along with 1 House Martin, 2 Swallows and 3 Sand Martins. A Swift was re-trapped there that was originally ringed on the same bed on 16th June 2001. Good numbers of Chiffchaffs are getting caught and the first juvenile Sedge Warblers were ringed on both beds 1 and 3.

Sightings of interest were restricted to No3 with a single Golden Plover and 7 Black-tailed Godwits, both fly overs. A further sign of the poor summer was the lack of butterflies, with only a Red Admiral and two Meadow Browns seen on No3.

5th July 2008 Dave Riley managed to get a few nets up on the Friday afternoon, getting, amongst other things, a Kingfisher and two Sand Martins - all juveniles. On the Saturday, rain came in and the catching slowed down, but a House Martin and Treecreeper were caught. Sightings on the bed was restricted to small groups of Swifts flying south, although it looks as though Little Grebes have had a good year, with four/five broods, mostly with large young, also three broods of Pochard have been seen.

Michael and Kieran managed to open a few nets on the Friday, catching eleven Sand Martins (10 new), including a french ringed control, the number was in the same ring series as the bird caught last year, only three hundred numbers different. The only sighting of note here was of two juvenile Little Ringed Plovers on the scrape.

June 2008 Sightings
28th June 2008 The ringing team on No1 bed were out on both Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, catching 87 new birds, including 2 Swift and a House Martin, numbers of warblers are starting to increase with 12 Chiffchaffs and 8 Willow Warblers, almost all juvenile, but no young Reed Warblers as yet. 3 juv. Great Spotted Woodpeckers was a surprise as was the 3 Willow Tits, but totally unexpected was the 10 Great Tits caught at the feeding station, as we feared they had had a poor breeding season. Sightings on the bed included 17 Lapwing, 2 Curlew and an Oystercatcher, all moving west, while two broods of Pochard were on the pools.

The team on No3 bed just ringed on the Saturday, catching 51 new birds out of 76 caught, with juvenile Reed Warblers starting to appear in good numbers there and six new Willow Warblers being a good total for that bed. An interesting retrap was a Long-tailed Tit. 1U5717, which may be eight years old. Sightings on the bed were restricted to a single Hobby.

21st June 2008 Ringing took place on No1 bed on both days, with 46 new birds ringed, including the first Kingfisher and Swallow of the year, a juvenile Goldcrest was also caught, possibly having come from the Butchersfield Tip or Bluebell Wood.

The No3 bed team just ringed on the Saturday, ringing 35 new birds, including a juvenile Reed Warbler, which had the strongest set of fault bars on the tail they had ever seen.

Sightings included Oystercatcher, Curlew and Common Sandpiper along with Pied, Yellow and Grey Wagtails.

14th June 2008 Ringing took place on both beds 1 and 3 this weekend with juveniles of Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Willow Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff all being ringed. A Lesser Whitethroat with a brood patch was caught on No1 bed. Retrapped birds included a Blue Tit that was ringed in a nest box on No3 bed, only the fourth to be caught, while two colour ringed Reed Warblers from the scheme of a couple of years ago were also caught.

Sightings included 2 Mediterranean Gulls, a Grey Wagtail and a Grasshopper Warbler, all from no3 bed.

7th June 2008 Just ringing on No1 bed this weekend, with a few juveniles caught, including our first young Willow Warbler. Also ringed were the first Swift, House Martin and Treecreeper for two years there.

Not many sightings to report, although 14 Lapwing flying west were the first signs of post breeding dispersal seen on the bed and a Kingfisher was seen flying over the bed.

May 2008 Sightings
31st May 2008 The ringing totals represent three weeks ringing, including five sessions on No3 and two on No1. Interesting birds included 9 Swifts, flicked on No3 along with a juvenile Mistle Thrush on the same bed - both species are caught in small numbers, but not annually, while a female Sparrowhawk caught there was unusual.

Although only 16 new birds were ringed on No1, the total did include the fourth and fifth Stock Doves for the reserve along with the first Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grasshopper Warbler and Garden Warbler for the year there.

All reported sightings were from No3 bed and included 1 Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Little Ringed Plovers (all on the scape) and a small roost of 400 Starlings also of note was a male Grey Wagtail feeding two juveniles by the footbridge and the Mute Swans with 7 small cygnets.

10th May 2008 Ringing took place on No1 bed on 5th, 9th and 10th, with good numbers of warblers ringed there, particularly Sedge and Reed along with the first Lesser Whitethroats (3) of the year and the third Stock Dove to be ringed on the reserve which was caught in the feeding station by John Blundell and Tony Davis.

The team on No3 bed ringed on the 10th, using less nets that usual, resulting in 32 birds being caught including 16 new, with seven warblers.

Sightings during the week included Woolston's third Quail, initially calling on the Friday night and again at Saturday lunchtime, Long-eared and Tawny Owls were also heard. Sightings during the remainder of the week included five Black Terns on 9th and occasional sightings of Marsh Harrier and Med Gull, all on No3 bed.

3rd May 2008 The highlight of the weekend's ringing was a male Cuckoo, caught on No3 bed, while warbler numbers are picking up across the reserve.

Sightings included an excellent male Whinchat on No1 bed, 5 overflying Whimbrel on No3, 2 Lesser Whitethroats and 2 Garden warblers.

April 2008 Sightings
26th April 2008 55 new birds were ringed over the weekend, including the first Wheatear for a few years, on No3 bed and a Common Redpoll on No1 bed, which was amongst a flock of 20 or so Lessers (16 of were caught including 2 ringed birds). Warbler numbers are starting to increase, with seven species ringed, while the first Linnet of the year was also ringed. Eight Willow Warblers were also caught on No1 bed that had been ringed in previous years.

Sightings included Swifts over both beds, 1 Cuckoo, 2 Med. Gulls and a Common Sandpiper, all on No3, with No1 producing 3 Water Rails and a Common Tern.

19th April 2008 The east wind was a little too much for ringing on No1 bed where a single Willow Warbler was the only new bird ringed, the more sheltered No3 bed fared better, with nine new birds, including the first Whitethroat and Blackcap to be ringed during 2008.

Sightings included a colour ringed Blackcap from 2005, Reed Warblers on both No1 and 3 beds with a Grasshopper Warbler reeling by the first barrier, and a Buzzard attacking a male Pheasant which escaped.

12th April 2008 The Bramblings keep on getting ringed on No3 bed, with another 7 caught, while incoming migrants were represented by 2 Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff on No1 bed and another 2 of each species on No3 bed. 2 Song Thrushes ringed on No1 were their first for the year.

Sightings included:

No1: 1 Peregrine, 3 Snipe, 100+ Sand Martins, 4 House Martins, 20 Swallows, 5 late Fieldfare, roosting, 1 Sedge Warbler, 2 Blackcaps, 12 Willow Warblers and 15 Chiffchaffs.

No3: 2 Buzzards, 2 Stock Doves and 1 Sedge Warbler

5th April 2008 The ringing totals included the first Sand Martins and Willow Warblers for the year and more Brambling from No3 bed.

Sightings include 5 Scaup, Red Kite, 4 Whimbrel, 1 Med. Gull and a Wheatear all from No3 bed, where there was also 100+ Sand Martins/hour moving north.

Sand Martins were also a feature of No1 bed, with over 100 feeding over the pools.

March 2008 Sightings
29th March 2008 Kieran took advantage of half-term week and he and Stuart had ringing sessions on 25th and 27th as well as the regular morning session today. In total 45 new birds were rung, the highlight being Woolston's second Dunlin which walked into a basket trap on the scrape almost the same as Woolston's first Dunlin in 2006, except that the little bugger was too light to set the trap off by tself. It took three hours of gentle “twinkling” and a pull chord to eventually catch it. It was a remarkably tame bird, at times allowing approach to around 5 feet, so close in fact that Kieran could hear it pecking at the mud. Bramblings continue to be seen around the bed in reasonable numbers and 12 new birds were ringed during the week. The other highlights were a late Redwing on 25th, two new Willow Tits and the first capture in the new 'double' net , aka the canopy net. The bird was a returning ringed Chiffchaff, one of two such 'phloscs' caught this week.

Sightings included a Green Sandpiper, Oystercatcher, Lapwing and Dunlin (27th), 9 Sand Martins and 2 House Martins ( 29th) and 3 Scaup and an unusual sighting of a Pinkfooted Goose on the water with two Greylags (29th).

John and Tony arrived late to number one bed to do some work, sightings included two House Martin.

15th March 2008 Only ringing on No1, this weekend, with the first Chiffchaffs in and a new Yellowhammer ringed. Sightings included a Sandwich Tern, flying west along MSC and two flocks of Lesser Redpolls, on No1 and No3.

8th March 2008 The breezy weather restricted the ringing to the more sheltered feeding stations, reducing the potential catch although another Brambling was caught on No3 bed, their ninth of the year, so far', but two teal managed to escape from the duck trap on the same bed, and four different Great Spotted Woodpeckers were retrapped.

Sightings included (all No1 bed) 1 Merlin, 14 Snipe (including a drumming bird), 1 Woodcock and a Red-legged Partridge, only the third record for the reserve after two records on No3 bed in 2005.

1st March 2008 No mist netting this weekend due to the breezy conditions, although the No3 bed team managed to catch a Mallard in their duck trap.

Not many sightings to report, although a Stonechat was on No1 bed on 27th and there were a few Snipe about.

February 2008 Sightings
23rd February 2008 A quiet day, but another two Brambling caught on No3 bed.

Sightings included: Woodcock and four Yellowhammer on No1 bed, eight Woodcock on No2, Water Rail, 15 Goldfinches on No3 along with potential breeders Grey Heron and Lapwing, an early Common Sandpiper along the canal and two Mediterranean Gulls on the old Richmond works site.

16th February 2008 The team on No1 bed caught their first Willow Tit of the year, while the guys on No3 bed caught another three Brambling, 9 Chaffinches and their first Greenfinches of the year (10).

Sightings included a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker near No1 bed along with a Chiffchaff in the eastern reedbed.

9th February 2008 4 Scaup were seen on No 3 bed today, 3 males and a female, at lunch time they were showing well in front of the John Morgan Hide. Up to 4 Brambling were seen on the feeders at the Frank Linley along with the very regular Willow Tit. Several people have seen a small flock of Redpoll and Siskin.

The ringing team on No3 bed did well, although only catching seven new birds, their catch included 1 Coal Tit (just about annual on Ringing Totals) and two Brambling. The team on No1 caught their secon Woodpigeon of the year along with a Goldfinch and two Goldcrests.

Sightings included a 1st winter Glaucous Gull over No1 and 2 Buzzards, 8 Siskins and 6 Bramblings all on No3.

January 2008 Sightings
26th January 2008 Ringing took place on No1 bed on both Friday and Saturday with No3 bed being worked on the Saturday only. The conditions were windier than hoped for, although the feeding station on No1 did well with 53 birds caught, including two new Yellowhammers and a new Goldcrest, while the team on No3 bed caught four new birds, including a Coot and a new Water Rail.

Sightings included:

No1 bed: 300 Jackdaw, 1 Snipe, 20 Long-tailed Tits, Firecrest, 1 Chiffchaff, a Little Grebe (trilling) and two Skylarks.

No3 bed: 1 Jack Snipe, 5 Snipe, 2 Woodcocks, 2 Tawny Owls, 1 Pintail and a Ruddy Duck.

19th January 2008 The only sighting of note was the Firecrest, still on No1 bed.

12th January 2008 The highlight of this two week period was the male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker caught on No1 bed, the first since 2000, and only the fifth to be ringed at the Eyes. The Firecrest from before Christmas was retrapped on 5th, while Water Rail and Moorhen were both ringed on No3.

Sightings were restricted to a small flock of Siskins on Butchersfield Tip and two Woodcock on the track to No1 bed.

December 2007 Sightings
1st December 2007 Tom Westhead had a session on No1 on Monday 26th November, catching the ninth Yellowhammer of the year there.

The following Saturday was very quiet, with only 12 new birds ringed, including the fourth Magpie for No1 bed this year.

Sightings were also restricted, with a Curlew flying over both beds 1 and 3, while No3 bed also produced 4 Snipe, 1 Tawny Owl and 2 Lesser Redpolls.

8th December 2007 A small amount of ringing took place on No1 bed on Friday, while there were sessions on Nos 1 and 3 on the Saturday morning. A total of 28 new birds were ringed, with the winter crop on No3 bed producing the best results.

Sightings included a Firecrest on No1 on the Friday, while birds counted going to roost on the bed included 500+ Starlings and 50+ Magpies. Sightings on the Saturday included a tawny Owl by the second barrier and a Woodcock and Chiffchaff on No1. No3 bed sightings included 2 Water Rail and a Tawny Owl.

15th December 2007 A new ringing species for Woolston and two new species for the year was the reward for the teams at the Eyes on Saturday. Kieran managed to 'rush' a Canada Goose into the new duck trap on No3 bed, while a Brambling was caught amongst the Chaffinches on the same bed, the winter crop there proving to be a great success with masses of finches and buntings making use of it. The highlight on No1 bed was a stunning male Firecrest with another one calling nearby.

Sightings on No3 bed included Tawny Owl, small numbers of Redwings and unusually for No3 bed, 3 Kestrels in the air together.

31st December 2007 Highlights of the past two weeks include the first water rails to be ringed this year and another four Moorhens and the second Brambling (all on No3).

Sightings included a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker on No3 and the Firecrest still present on No1.

November 2007 Sightings
20th October to 3rd November A total of 182 birds ringed with 83 0n No1 bed and 99 on No3, highlights included 5 Snipe and 4 Redwing on No3 along with and extraordinary 15 Bullfinches caught ther over two Saturday mornings. The birds on No1 included there first Coal Tit of the year and their 2nd - 5th Meadow Pipits, while Lesser Redpolls continue to be caught with 20 ringed across the reserve in the period.

Sightings include:

No1 bed: 3 Whooper Swans, 1 Pink-footed Goose, 2 Woodcocks, 1 Jack Snipe, 1 martin sp (probably House) on 29th, female Stonechat and a Chiffchaff.

No3 bed: 2 Pintail, 2 Jack Snipe, 8 Snipe, 1 Woodcock, 1 Buzzard, 1 Tawny Owl, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 3 Chiffchaffs, 40 Fieldfares (roost), 300 Redwings and 6 min. Bearded Tits.

10th November A breezy morning, but still one or two spots where nets could be put up out of the wind. Ringing took place on beds 1 and 3, and a total of just 17 new birds were ringed, the highlight being a new Willow Tit on No3.

Sightings were also few and far between, but included (all No1 bed) 1 Woodcock, 1 Jack Snipe and 1 Merlin.

17th November 63 new birds ringed including Blackcap (No3 bed) and Chiffchaff (No 1 bed), while the No3 bed Cetti's Warbler was caught again after a gap of six weeks. Six Lesser Redpolls, also on No3 was a good total and one of the Chaffinches, a male, with a 94mm wing was considered a probable continental bird.

The seeded area of No3 produced sightings of a Yellowhammer and four Bramblings, whilst other sightings there included Water Rail, 1 Jack Snipe, 1 Woodcock, 8 Snipe and a Tawny Owl.

Sightings on No1 bed included 4 Water rails, 8 Snipe, Merlin and 2 Sparrowhawks.

24th November A quiet morning with rain from 09.00. Very few sightings, but included small flocks of Fieldfare flying over No1 bed.

October 2007 Sightings
5th October 2007 The weather was a little too excellent over Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, with no wind but bright sunshine. Still, and excellent catch was had with 186 new birds ringed and four species added to the 2007 ringing list.

The team on No1 bed ringed 113 birds including Green Woodpecker (the first one to be ringed for two years), Meadow Pipit (first of the year) and Yellow-browed Warbler (third record for the reserve, second to be ringed), the latter bird being the first bird to be caught over the weekend. Top species was Greenfinch with 34 new followed by Lesser Redpoll with 21, eight Chiffchaffs and 12 Goldcrests were also good totals.

The No3 bed team ringed 73 new birds, including the first Cetti's Warbler of the year (fourth ringing record), in view of the sightings earlier this year and last year, could there be a be a hidden breeding population on the reserve? Three Reed Warblers and four Lesser Redpolls were also ringed here, along with five Redwings and five Song Thrushes.

Sightings included: No1 bed: 3 Tawny Owls, 1 Coal Tit, 2 Little Grebes, a late Whitethroat, and 1 female Wigeon. Visible passage included: 100+ Skylarks, 25 Meadow Pipits, 5 Grey Wagtails, 10 Redwing and 8 Siskin.

No3 bed: 9 Snipe, 1 Buzzard, 1 Tawny Owl and 1 Siskin.

12th October 2007 A little quieter this weekend, although an interesting retrap was a Reed Warbler caught on No1 with a fat score of 6 and weighing in at 14.8 grms.

Other warblers were few and far between, although three Magpies were caught, not quite as good as the Yellow-browed and Cetti's warblers of the week before!

Not much on the sightings front, either, with a light visible passage of Skylarks (approx. 100) over No1 and 15 Snipe on No3 bed scrape along with a male Wigeon on the river there.

September 2007 Bird Sightings
1st September 2007 The ringing team on No1 had a quiet time with 60 new birds ringed, including 3 Goldcrests and a variety of warblers, while the centre of No3 bed provided the team there with 133 new birds, including 97 warblers, of which an amazing 60 were Blackcaps and 17 Chiffchaffs.

There were few sightings of note, although the migration watch team counted 22 Buzzards from the top of Butchersfield Tip.

15th September 2007 These notes cover the last two weeks.

The team on number three bed have continued to have a good run of Blackcaps with another sixty-nine being ringed. They also managed a good day (by their standards) with thrushes on the 15th with 6 blackbirds and three sonth. Sightings wise, not much, but Tawny Owl calling in the copse and Badger.

David faired less well ringing 27 new birds during the first weekend though 17 of these were warblers.

John and Tony managed 57 new birds for the two weeks which included 5 Lesre from a flock of about 25 birds. Sightings including the first Woodcock of the year disturbed below the tip, along with two Snipe and two Grey Wagtails on the pools.

22nd September 2007 Just the team on No3 ringing, catching an excellent 51 new warblers out of 95 new birds.

29th September 2007 Excellent weather conditions Friday afternoon and Saturday morning made the session most enjoyable with 174 new birds ringed.

The team on No1 bed, present both days catching 114 new birds including 7 Reed Warblers, 26 Chiffchaffs, 8 Goldcrests and 15 Lesser Redpolls, while the No.3 bed team caught 60 new birds on the Saturday morning, including their first Woodpigeon of the year, four Blackcaps and a further three Bullfinches.

Sightings from No1 bed included; 1 Water Rail, 2 Tawny Owls, 4 Snipe, 5 Buzzards, 2 Sparrowhawks, 3 Mistle Thrushes and a Green Woodpecker. Visible passage included: 20 House Martins, 50+ Swallows, 50+ Skylarks, 10 Grey Wagtails, 2 Pied Wagtails, 30+ Meadow Pipits, 11 Lapwing, 3 Collared Doves, 20 Redwings, 2 Siskin, 20 Goldfinch and 20+ Lesser Redpolls.

August 2007 Bird Sightings
4th August 2007 An excellent week's ringing with 591 birds ringed across the reserve. Highlights included 151 Swallows and 27 Sand Martins caught in the centre of No3 bed, where a roost of 1000 or so has built up, 59 Reed Warblers, 24 Blackcaps, 63 Chiffchaffs and 37 Willow Warblers. Bullfinches are still being caught in good numbers with 14 new birds ringed during the week including 10 on No1 bed, although Blue and Great Tits are only being caught in low numbers.

Sightings included Hobbys over both No1 and 3, Green Woodpeckers on No1 and by the main track near the Old Pumphouse, Tree Pipit and Yellow Wagtail both over No1.

11th August 2007 The team on No3 bed had two successful mid-week catches of Swallows, followed by a reasonable catch on the Saturday morning, which included 60 Greenfinches. The No1 bed team caught 134 new birds over the Friday afternoon/Saturday morning session, including 3 Lesser Whitethroats and six Garden Warblers, while David Norman, working the east bank of No3 bed caught 71 new birds including 18 Reed Warblers and 15 Chiffchaffs.

Sightings included tawny Owls on Nos 1 and 3 beds, with up to 1000 Swallows roosting on No3.

18th August 2007 Of note, excellent hirundine roost on No3 bed and the first Tree Pipits caught on No1 bed for a while.

Sightings include two Hobbies and a flock of 35 Lapwings - both on No3 bed.

25th August 2007 299 new birds were ringed during the week up to 25th. The size of the Swallow roost on No3 has reduced, with only 300 birds or so present, resulting in the reduced catch of 61 birds. 55 Blackcaps were ringed, with good numbers across the reserve, and the three Kingfishers caught by John Blundell and Tony Davies by the west pool on No1 bed were the first for the year.

Sightings included single Hobbys on Nos 1 and 3, Peregrine on No1 along with Tawny Owl, while 80+ House Martins and 2 Curlew were seen on No3. Sighting of the week was probably the five Kestrels soaring over No1 along with a Buzzard and a Raven!

July 2007 Bird Sightings
7th July 2007 The team on No3 bed had an excellent Saturday morning, catching 179 birds (136 new), including superb numbers of Wrens (15) along with juvenile Great-spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper, Willow Tit and 2 Jays.

The teams working beds 2 and 1 had much quieter sessions, although, again, good numbers of Wrens were caught.

There were no real sightings of note.

14th July 2007 Good numbers of birds again ringed at the Eyes, including 21 Willow Warblers on No1 bed 13 Blackcaps on No3 bed.

Sightings included 2 Ravens, 2 Grasshopper Warblers and 2 Grey Partridges all on No1.

21st July 2007 Rain again interrupted the ringing session over the weekend, with 56 new birds ringed on No1 bed including a juvenile Yellowhammer and an excellent 17 Sedge Warblers. 45 of the new birds were warblers, 80% of the total.

44 new birds were ringed on No3 bed, including an astonishing 11 Bullfinches (out of 20 caught!), along with 2 Jays, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a Treecreeper.

28th July 2007 376 birds were ringed over the period, the highest weekly total of the year.

130 new birds were ringed on No1 bed during Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, including 88 warblers, of note were 28 Reed Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, 2 Garden Warblers and 22 Willow Warblers, while single Blue and Great Tits was an indication of the poor breeding season for these species.

David Norman had his first session of the year on the east side of No3 bed, after opening his rides he caught 9 new birds, including eight warblers.

The team working the centre of No3 had an excellent session on Tuesday 24th as well as the weekend, resulting in a superb catch of 237 new birds for the week, including 144 warblers. They caught their first Swallows of the year as they left their roost, while the warbler total included 14 Sedge Warblers, 60 Reed Warblers, a Lesser Whitethroat and 28 Chiffchaffs.

Sightings included a Little Owl on No1 and three Ravens soaring over No3 bed.

June 2007 Bird Sightings
1st and 9th June 2007 Numbers of juveniles are steadily increasing, with the first Coal Tit and juvenile Willow tits caught on No3 bed. A Garden Warbler with brood patch trapped on No1 bed. The first free flying Lapwing for a number of years was caught on No3.

Not many sightings to report, other than Stock Doves and a House Sparrow both seen on No3, both unusual sightings there.

16th June 2007 Rain during Friday evening and Saturday morning restricted the ringing activities to 4 hours on No1 bed during Friday afternoon and 4 hours on No2 bed on the Saturday morning. A good flock of Long-tailed tits was caught on No1, while the only sighting of note was a 2nd summer Mediterranean Gull on No3.

23rd June 2007 The Thunder storms on Friday reduced the ringing opportunities, with only 14 or so birds caught on No1 bed. Saturday morning proved to be much better, with overcast conditions and little wind. Alan Hitchmough and Dave Riley caught 58 new birds on No1 bed, including the first Starling to be ringed for two years, and their first Willow Tit of the year, along with their second Sand Martin and Juvenile lesser Whitethroat and Goldcrest.

30 birds were ringed by the No3 bed team, including two Willow Tits and their second and third Willow Warblers of the year.

Sightings included 2 Water Rails on No1 and 2 Wigeon on No3 along with good numbers of Black-necked Grebes.

30th June 2007 For the third week in succession, rain spoiled the ringing activities, with light showers from 04.40 on the Saturday morning, restricting the time with the nets open to less than 4 hours on No1 bed. Reasonable numbers of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs where caught there, while Swallow, Magpie and Linnet were added to their annual ringing list.

Sightings were minimal, with a Pochard brood and Barn Owl seen on No1 and 2 Mediterranean Gulls on No3.

May 2007 Bird Sightings
12th May 2007 Sightings included ten species of warbler recorded on No1 bed on Friday afternoon, possibly a first for the reserve? An outbreak of excitement occurred on No3 bed, when Dave Steel found a Swift sp. with a white rump over No3 bed, but after it was scoped, it was identified as an aberrant Common Swift. Cuckoos were recorded on all three beds, while swifts were present in good numbers and a Hobby was seen flying from No3 bed over to No2.

19th May 2007 Breezy conditions restricted the ringing session on both days, but good numbers of pullus tits were ringed, particularly on No3 bed. New species caught for the year included 2 Goldfinch on No2 bed and a Grasshopper Warbler on No1.

Good numbers of Swifts were present on No1 on the Friday, while Wheatears and Lesser Whitethroats were both noted on Nos 1 and 2 on the Saturday. An excellent count of eight Water Rails was made, also on No1 bed, on the Saturday.

26th May 2007 A reasonable session with the catch of juvenile birds increasing by the week, highlights included a Lesser Whitethroat with a brood patch on No1 along with the first Sand Martin of the year and two juvenile Goldcrests on No2. Excellent numbers of Reed Warblers were caught on both beds 2 and 3, while two broods of Long-tailed Tits (totalling 21 birds) were caught on No3.

Sightings included Cuckoos on beds 1 (1 bird) and 3 (2) and a third juvenile Goldcrest on No1, also of interest was a Long-eared Bat caught in the nets on No1 and successfully released.

April 2007 Bird Sightings
7th & 8th April 2007 The recent fine weather has seen the arrival of spring migrants with the first Willow Warblers and Blackcaps reported this weekend. Black-necked Grebes have increased to 12 and 3 Little Gulls were on No.3 bed on 8th April. A Great White Egret flew over the Reserve on 7th and a survey on 4th produced 46 singing Chiffchaffs.

Butterflies have been present in good numbers with up to 20 Peacocks and similar numbers of Small Tortoiseshell. The first orange Tip was seen on 4th April and a male Brimstone on 6th was the first of the year. So far seven different species have been reported.

Sightings include the following:

No1: 07/04: 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 10 Redwing, 9 Sand Martin

No3: 07/04: 1 Woodcock, 1 Common Gull, 2 Blackcaps, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Bearded Tit

No3: 08/04: 3 adult Little Gulls, 2 singing Willow Warblers

13th & 14th April 2007 42 new birds ringed across the reserve, with 23 caught on No1 bed. Amongst the highlights here were 15 Willow Warblers - the first this year - including 9 retraps from previous years. 3 Lesser Redpolls were also caught, including a fine male originally ringed on the bed four years ago.

John Blundell and Tony Davis caught 10 new birds on No2 bed, including 2 Chiffchaffs and three Blackcaps, while the team working on No3 bed caught 27 birds of which nine were new, including the reserve's first Magpie of the year and a further three Blackcaps.

Sightings included:

No1 bed: 2 Shelduck, 9 Snipe (including 5 leaving the reed bed at dusk), 1 Whimbrel, 2 Curlew, 3 Water Rails, 10 Sand Martins, 3 Swallows, 3 Blackcap, 30 (min.) Willow Warblers and 1 Coal Tit

No3 bed: 2 Shelduck, 1 Buzzard, 3 Lapwings on the scrape, including display, Mediterranean Gull, 6 Little Gulls (incl. 5 adults) and 2 Skylarks flying east, also seen were the first Orange Tip butterflies.

20th & 21st April 2007 More migrants in this week, with Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff caught. Also of note were single Snipe (No1 bed) and Willow Tit (No3 bed), both ringed.

Sightings included (max. counts over the two days):

No1 bed: 4 Water Rails, Oystercatcher, Common Sandpiper, Ringed Plover, 2 Tawny Owls, 2 Wheatears, 1 male Cetti's Warbler, 4 Grasshopper Warblers, 1 each of Reed and Sedge Warblers, 10 Blackcaps and 2 Whitethroat.

No3 bed: 1 Ringed Plover, 1 Swift, 1 Grasshopper Warbler, 2 Reed Warblers, 1 Whitethroat.

March 2007 Bird Sightings
2nd March 2007 Generally a quiet session, the only surprise being four different Great Spotted Woodpeckers caught at the feeding station on No1 bed on Saturday - 2 males and 2 females.

Sightings included: The 'sinensis' type Cormorant, 4 Buzzards, Peregrine, 2 Grey Partridge, 2 Water Rails, 100+ Fieldfare and 100+ Redwing (roosting), a Cetti's Warbler (singing) and an over flying Brambling.

10th March 2007 39 new birds were ringed at the Eyes over the weekend. The highlight of the 19 new birds caught on No1 was a new Yellowhammer - the seventh of the year, while Reed Buntings are still being caught in reasonable numbers.

John Blundell and Tony Davis caught seven new birds on No2 bed, including the second Song Thrush of the year for them and the reserve. 29 birds were caught on No3 bed, of which 13 were new, including their first Jay of the year, while a male Sparrowhawk (originally ringed during 2006) was also caught.

Sightings included:

No1 bed Friday 9th - 2 Woodcock, 50+ Fieldfare and 12 Redwing. Saturday - 1 Curlew, 1 Oystercatcher, 2 Snipe, 1 Woodcock, 1 Peregrine, 6 Buzzards, 2 singing Cetti's Warblers and 2 Bearded Tits.

No3 bed Saturday - 3 Buzzards, 3 Water Rails calling, 1 Chiffchaff, 2 male Bearded Tits and 1 Siskin.

17th March 2007 Ringing took place on No1 bed on Friday and Saturday, with the weather conditions on the first day allowing a slightly better catch. A total of 16 new birds were caught, including 11 Greenfinches, although the first bird caught on Saturday morning was a returning Chiffchaff, originally ringed as a 3j on 8th July 2006.

John Blundell and Tony Davis operated on No2 bed on Saturday, catching nine new birds, including the first Chiffchaff of the year, quickly followed by the second.

Sightings included the following:

No1 bed (16th): 4 Buzzards, 2 Snipe, 2 Grey Wagtails, 4 Fieldfare and 1 Chiffchaff (17th): 5 Grey Lag Geese, 2 Peregrines, 5 Buzzards, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Kestrels, 1 Woodcock, 1 Grey Wagtail, 5 Redwing, 1 Yellowhammer.

No2 bed (17th): 3 Goosanders flying along MSC, 15 Redwings leaving roost at dawn along south bank.

24th March 2007 Ringing took place on No1 bed on Friday and Saturday. A total of 22 new birds were caught, including 12 Greenfinches.

John Blundell and Tony Davis operated on No2 bed on Saturday, catching seven new birds.

15 new birds were trapped on No 3 bed including the first Chiffchaff ( plus a second retrapped) and the first Song Thrush of the year.

Sightings information is restricted to No3 bed and included 1 Jack Snipe, 2 Buzzards, 3 Water Rails, a Green Woodpecker (rare on No3), 3 different mink and the sunshine encouraged Comma and Peacock butterflies onto the wing.

31st March 2007 Sightings include the following:

No1: 1 Nuthatch, 2 Cetti's Warblers, 30 Redwing.

February 2007 Bird Sightings
3rd February 2007 An excellent session with over 100 birds ringed for the first time this year.

Dave Riley and Alan Hitchmough operated No1 bed, catching 96 birds (37 new), including 10 Chaffinch, 2 Yellowhammers and 14 Reed Buntings, while John Blundell and Tony Davis caught 12 new birds on No2, including a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

The team on No3 did exceptionally well, catching 118 birds (74 new), including a female Mallard, 10 Chaffinch, 41 Greenfinch and 12 Reed Buntings, they have now caught 2 more Reed Buntings during 2007 than they did for the whole of 2006.

Few sightings of note including the first returning Little Grebe and singing Yellowhammer - both on No1 and single Snipe and Sparrowhawk on No3.

10th February 2007 A quieter morning than the previous week, although the team on No3 did very well with the water birds, catching a Mallard, Moorhen and two Coot.

Not many sightings of note.

17th February 2007 A quietish weekend produced the third Coot of the year, on No3 and the fourth Yellowhammer, on No1, along with excellent numbers of Reed Buntings and Chaffinches.

Sightings included:

No1: 2 Great Crested Grebes, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Peregrine, 4 Buzzards, 1 Sparrowhawk, 2 Green Woodpeckers (displaying), 4 Collared Doves, 12 Skylarks, 60 Redwings and 2 Cetti's Warblers.

No2: 1 Buzzard, possible Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and 5 Bullfinches

No3: 1 Buzzard and 2 male Bearded Tits

24th February 2007 A reasonably successful Friday/Saturday session on No1 bed with 37 birds ringed including 2 Yellowhammers and 11 Reed Buntings, while John Blundell and Tony Davis caught 4 new birds on No2 bed including their first Treecreeper.

Tree felling around the nets in the centre of No3 bed had an adverse effect on the ringing, with 11 new birds ringed, including a Moorhen and a Willow Tit.

Sightings included:

No1 bed: Friday: 2 Little Grebes trilling, 100+ fieldfare and 26 Redwing roosting.

Saturday: 'Sinensis' type Cormorant on the canal, Goosander, Goldeneye (on west pool), male and female Peregrine

No3 bed: 2 Greylag Geese, 2 Water Rails and a Ramshorn Snail.

Common Toads were seen on Nos 1 and 3.

January 2007 Sightings
6th January 2007 A quiet morning's ringing across the three beds, although six new Reed Buntings were caught on each of beds 1 and 3, while a new Great Spotted Woodpecker was a surprise on No1, along with two re-trapped birds.

Not much to report in the sightings, with three Woodcock, 1 Snipe and 35 Redwings (flying south) reported from No1 bed.

13th January 2007 The breezy conditions didn't help the ringing teams on Saturday, but some nice birds were caught.

No1 bed: Dave Riley, Helen Williams and Roger Short (visiting from Devon) caught seven new birds, including a Great Spotted Woodpecker and two Redwings, they also caught the first Yellowhammer of the winter, a male originally ringed in early 2006.

No2 bed: John Blundell and Tony Davis caught five new birds which included the first Goldcrests for the reserve this year.

No3 bed: The team here were busy coppicing, but managed to catch 10 new birds including a female Sparrowhawk and seven new Reed Buntings, bringing the latter species to 13 for 2007, an excellent number considering they only caught 36 for the whole of 2006.

Sightings included:

No1: 1 male Peregrine, 8 Meadow Pipits, 14 Skylarks, 50+ Redwing (roosting), 25 Fieldfare, 2 Cetti's Warblers (both singing), 5 Lesser Redpolls and 1 Siskin.

No3: 1 Woodcock and four Lesser Redpolls.

20th January 2007 Breezy conditions restricted activities on beds 1 and 2, with no new birds caught on No1 and only 2 new Great Tits on No2. The team on the more sheltered No3 bed fared better, with 35 new birds over two sessions on Saturday and Sunday. The Budgie Mix, put out at the feeding station, continues to attract Reed Buntings, with an excellent 13 new birds caught, while, unusually for this time of the year, 13 new tits were ringed (6 Blue and 7 Great).

Sightings include:

No1 bed: 1 Woodcock, 2 Green Woodpeckers and 1 Cetti's Warbler.

No2 bed: 1 Woodcock

27th January 2007 A better weekend with 60 birds ringed, with good variety.

The No1 bed team caught 20 new birds including a male Sparrowhawk, 2 Redwings, 2 Linnets and a Yellowhammer, although finch numbers were low generally.

John Blundell and Tony Davis were rewarded with a Great Spotted Woodpecker and three new Robins on No 2 while the team on No3 caught 38 new birds, including Willow Tit and Treecreeper. Robins were caught in good numbers with 7 birds ringed, perhaps females arriving back?

Sightings included:

No1: 2 Peregrine (1 Male - different to the usual, 1 Female), 3 Water Rails, 3 Lesser Redpolls, 3 Yellowhammers and a Nuthatch (Woolston rarity)

No3: A mixed flock of finches reported from the centre of the bed including, Goldfinches, Siskins and Lesser Redpolls.