Archive News 2008

December
The year progressed much better than I hoped. I had set myself a target of 500 new birds for the year but exceeded that comfortably with a final total of 824 new birds of 36 species. I'm sure I can beat that in 2009!

November
The Pied Wagtail roost came to an end with just 4 birds trapped this month. I managed a total of 67 new birds from this roost. It's just a shame I didn't start earlier. No obvious White Wagtails were trapped but I'm sure they're out there somewhere.

October
The magic month went as expected with the Yellow-browed Warbler being the highlight. A late Reed Warbler on the 8th was a surprise as well. A visit to the Nursery & Long Field was made on the 17th - some migrants as well as locals were trapped including a retrap Blackbird which had been originally ringed there in October 2003. My first Garden Warbler for the year on the 13th was unexpected especially as it turned out to be an adult bird.

September
Up till now I had not trapped a single Garden Warbler all year. On the 15th I finally thought I had one- until it changed itself into a Barred Warbler! The run of Sedge Warblers finally came to an end with a year total of 130 and only one retrap! This is one total I am certain to beat in 2009.

August
The local Airshow provided a few overhead distractions but we did manage good numbers of acrocephalus warblers throughout the month. Unfortunately a rather nasty back injury put me out of action for 2 weeks but it also coincided with some rather wet & windy weather so not too bad.

July
The start of the autumn migration was marked with a public ringing demonstration. Thanks to Shaun Robson for helping out and hopefully all who attended learned something about our noble art. We also christened the new HHC netride which had been cut-out by Lyndon, many thanks. A juvenile redstart at Solent Meads on the 22nd was a pleasant suprise.

Ringing Demo at HHC - Shaun & KRS seated! Mark Andrews

June
As expected a quiet month with only 6 birds trapped all month but I did have the distraction of my New Forest Firecrests.

May
My return from Cyprus coincided with the main Spring Passage. This was steady but not spectacular with several common migrants as well as local birds turning up in the nets.

April
The new year started slowly with just 15 birds trapped at Solent Meads.

March
I had identified 3 main ringing sites within the recording area Solent Meads,HHC & the Nursery/Long Field. I also set myself a target of 500 newly-ringed birds for 2008.