Another Russian!

4/09/17

Today, we continued with our exploration of the forest, and again chose to open nets at our new Vaggatem site. The sun shone all day, and the temperature rose to a high of 18.5°c, hard to believe for the arctic circle! A steady stream of birds throughout the morning resulted in a decent catch of 48 birds, featuring a very interesting mix of species.

Another day and another Russian control. Today, this resulted in the first foreign control of a Willow Tit for the project. This juvenile had obviously moved some way from the nearby Russian ringing station we know of (if it does originate from here) which may prove interesting for this usually sedentary species.

Among the more unusual catches of the day were a juvenile Tree Pipit and an adult female Redstart, both of which were new species for us on this years project. Both were unexpected additions to the trip as many of these will have left the boreal forests by this point. However, both were gratefully received and kept the stream of birds coming throughout the morning.

Today saw significant increases in visible migration, and this is represented by increases in totals of Redpolls and sightings of Meadow Pipits, both of which were obvious today. Among these were smaller numbers of Tree Pipits and a couple of Red-throated Pipits

Species	Totals
Willow Warbler	12
Common Redpoll	10
Reed Bunting	9
White Wagtail	6
Bluethroat	5+2
Meadow Pipit	2
Willow Tit	(1)
Redstart	1
	45+2 + (1)

A Pied Flycatcher near the ringing site proved to be another new species for the trip, as well as a flyby Great Black Backed Gull- very out of place in the boreal forest. A large number of species were out enjoying the sun, including Small Tortoishell, Arctic Hare and a Root Vole.