I decided to try tape luring Meadow pipits as have been noticing some numbers passing over the house on passage over the last week or so. These birds can often be observed moving in large numbers at this time of year carrying out a very visible diurnal migration particularly noticeable on coastal sites. Earlier movements mostly involve birds moving from the upland breeding grounds, but a good number of British Meadow pipits spend the winter
on the Iberian peninsula. The garden is not ideal for this because of the fences, the high telephone wires and the trees. I had no doubt that the birds would come in but suspected that they would make use of these perches (above the nets) and laugh at me from on high
Not long after the nets were opened and the tape lure turned on, Mairi and I were sitting on the step when all the garden birds scattered, quickly followed by a large female Sparrowhawk that alighted briefly on one of the fence posts then off over the field and into the mist. As I suspected the tape luring was a partial success in that it attracted the meadow pipits and at one pointed I counted 43 birds on the telephone wires, but as I also thought they mostly stayed there and the total capture for the day was 9. However there were lots of other birds around and I caught the first Goldfinches in the garden and I am constantly amazed by the unringed Greenfi
nches that keep turning up am assuming that the original Greenfinches that were ringed earlier on were breeding near by (Greenfinches can be semi-colonial) and have since dispersed and the new ones are in the process of dispersal. Two Robins were caught and have noticed a definite movement of these birds, their winter tone to their song is now evident. The nice surprise for the day was the Lesser Redpoll that turned up in the net at the end of the day.
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