WILTI-ng in the mist

With alarms set for 4:15am, hopes were high for a busy start to the days session, however overnight sub-zero temperatures and early morning fog combined to make for a very slow start. In the first couple of hours, the group managed only single figures of birds, with little to no activity.

The fog lingered late into the morning and only once it cleared did we start to catch any birds, all being caught in the river level nets rather than those on the ridge. In total the group caught and processed 42 birds between 5am and 1pm. Although a very quiet session, with lots of empty nets on the majority of net rounds, it was encouraging to see a fair few birds flying over, and dropping into the ringing site, including Grey-Headed and White Wagtails, and good numbers of Meadow Pipits.

Again, the team caught well with Reed Buntings, with the majority being caught in a single net round at 9am however the large Tit flock witnessed yesterday failed to materialize. What we lacked in Great Tits however was made up for by a mixed Willow/ Siberian Tit flock, which added a great deal of excitement to the days totals. The Siberian Tits in particular were looking stunning.

Siberian Tit (CR)

Siberian Tits were fairly regular today. (HJH)

Below is a breakdown of the totals at Nyrud:

Reed Bunting	21 + (1)
Willow Tit	9
Siberian Tit	3
Great Tit	3
Meadow Pipit	3
White Wagtail	1
Totals	41 + (1)

Once back at Camp following the mornings session, we set our feeder nets in the attempt to catch a few of the increasing variety of species visiting them.  From our cabins we could see a good flock of Greenfinch and within them was a single male Brambling, which proceeded to later become the 13^th species to be ringed by us on this trip.

Willow Tit	2 + (1)
Greenfinch	2
Brambling	1
Great Tit	1
Totals	6 + (1)

Away from our ringing, the team spent a couple of hours birding in a local section of the Pasvik national park, which provided a good variety of desirable species, with Parrot Crossbill, good numbers of Siberian Jays, Siberian Tits and Great Grey Shrikes.

Siberian Jays were giving great views at a number of locations today (HJH)

Siberian Jay glowing orange (SJ)

Star bird of the day for many- Parrot Crossbill, a 'lifer' for half of the group!