Army Ornithological SocietyGibraltar Ringer 11
One of the buzzes with ringing during migration is that anything may drop in and we have had plenty of species over the last fortnight. It seems odd to get excited about the first Chaffinch or even the first Song Thrush and weirdly we look forward to the first Dunnock and Dartford Warbler. Today, with the addition of John and Sue Wells from RAFOS, and with the prospect of a further two European Nightjars, nets were opened in the mist and gloom of the Lavante on the upper slopes. The first net round was the most productive so far and provided a baptism of fire for Sue , our new recorder, with 19 birds including the Song Thrushes. The second round was equally productive but provided us with a new pipit. It is one thing to see pipits in familiar territory and habitat but another to take a new bird out of the net - names into the hat time! This was obviously a juvenile bird with all the inherent dangers, not all guides are good at providing plates of young birds. Time to fall back on convention and start with the obvious contenders, while at the same time proving that it is not something else. The lead picture of a juvenile Tawny Pipit gives the result away but it was by no means clear cut. The photos were of use later to Charles Perez in confirming that it was the start of the Tawny Pipit movement through Gibraltar. Phew!
With such large numbers of birds being netted - a total of 61 birds in only a few net rounds - it was obvious that we would have to close the nets in the face of increasing winds. Fate beat us to it and a vital guy line broke in the upper line of nets bringing neighbouring nets down to the ground. Wild asparagus sounds innocuous but cacti would have been easier to remove from the nets. Now resembling a herbaceous border or well manicured hedge, the painstaking task of defoliating the nets began. We were later than usual getting away today.
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