That enjoyable moment when the sun finally appears.

I was out three times last week, but not a lot to show for it. I ran out of sunflower seeds, so less chaffinches and no goldfinches. I did get another woodpecker though and a pair of bullfinches :)

 Male (red patch on the back of the head), Great spotted-woodpecker

 

Male, Bullfinch.  

                                        Female, Bullfinch.                                   

Common Darter

A few flocks of Redwing have flown over so fingers crossed.

Over 100 birds

Nice first net round with four new birds, Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Robin and another Goldfinch.

 This is the 3rd Nuthatch I have ringed, so far I have had two males and one female.

The image below indicates that this is a male from the deep rufous feathers underneath its tale.

I also had two helpers for a little while, my wife Cathryn, who got to ring bird number 100 (Chaffinch) and my daughter Savannah who was just a bit of a heavy lump :)

Linnets and Goldfinches

Linnet ringing at Mwnt with the Teifi Ringers this morning, using a whoosh net. 64 linnets and 1 house sparrow, which was the highlight for Andrew, a trainee with the Teifi Ringing Group as it was a new species for him.

Later on I was back in my garden, where I'm happy to say I got a pair of Goldfinches, species number 15  :)

 Male Goldfinch, as the red on the face extends to behind the eye and has darker/blacker nostril whisker/feathers.

 Female Goldfinch, as the red does not extend to behind the eye and the nostril whiskers/feathers are greyer.

Species number 14

The Blackbird. I was surprised how long it took to catch one as there is at least 6 around.

and more chaffinches.

Due to rain, but mainly wind, ringing has been a bit quieter, so I have been spending more time getting the ringing shed cosier.

 

Here's my daughter Savannah doing some work in her woodland activity book.