Army Ornithological SocietyGibraltar Ringer 15
Last blog of this week and it sees us at a low ebb. The wind has changed again and we have gone from manic to depressive in a day. These current westerlies just prevent anything moving, keep us in sunshine early in the day when we need cloud cover, and even preventing raptors from crossing the Straits. We had to lay off our recorder and raptor counter early for some sightseeing, leaving self, Julia and Carl to patrol the mostly empty nets. Not all bad news, as we caught a juvenile Black Redstart (pictured) and spent some considerable time working out why it was not a Common. Not difficult but with a first for the trip we have to ensure that records are 100% before submitting to the Gibraltar Ornithologic and Natural History Society. A more IT savvy reporter would have a picture of both to compare the two. It's not going to happen!
With early furling of nets and unable to download our data as the Jew's Gate site were playing data catch-up, we decided in desperation to do some sea watching. Fifteen minutes was enough to clock Cory's Shearwater, Northern Gannet, Morocco Cormorant and endless Yellow-legged Gulls. No cetaceans. Besides, Ann Powell had been promised an ice cream and wasn't going to let us renague on the deal. What a disappointment to miss a further hour and a half looking at the sea! On return to Bruce's Farm we were treated to a fly past of an African Monarch, more commonly seen at the Botanical Gardens. For those with an interest in bird food I include a photo below.
Tomorrow sees the return to UK of Sue and John Wells and we lose Carl Powell for the day to Jew's Farm where temporary resident ringer Ray Marsh will give him the once over. Mark Easterbrook's blog from Cyprus comes out on Sunday night and so I will create some blog space resuming Monday night when Robin Springett returns to us.
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