Last but not least

What a cracking day to round off this year's Varanger/Nesseby ringing project! Perfect weather, lots of birds, good teamwork, and a couple of 'nearly birds' in the form of two Citrine wagtails and a Great grey shrike--next time maybe. We dismantled the site at midday, then to make sure we squeezed every last drop out of our time here, did a bit in the garden and got a second baby Waxwing ; and followed that up with a roost attempt for more Waxwing (which unfortunately didn't show), and Brambling of which we caught 10 bringing our daily total to a very respectable 401, with and overall total for our trip coming to 3531 of 36 species (plus about 500 which Anders did before we arrived). Full details will be published when we get home.
Apart from the birds we have had a good laugh, been given superb hospitality, and learned new things- like what a hoot Ivor Cutler is. Must get some of his stuff ASAP. All packed and ready for a lie in till 6.30, before Anders ferries us to the airport. We hope that we can firm up some good proposals to take the project forward in the future; we will be working on that as soon as things settle down.
Wheatear 1
House sparrow 1
Redwing 2
Redpoll 18
Arctic redpoll 10
Fieldfare 1
Magpie 1
Great tit 11
Willow warbler 21
Garden warbler 1
Sedge warbler 1
Meadow pipit 192
Reed bunting 73
Bluethroat 9
Lapland bunting 6
Greenfinch 3
Dunnock 4
Red throated pipit 1
Waxwing 1
Brambling 44
Total 401