It's a start

With no work and fine weather Mike arrived at 9am armed with an assortment of nets for a session in the back garden. A slow but productive first effort followed with an obvious trial and error feel to the net placements. A (5)Robin took the accolade as first for the garden nets, closely followed by 2 (4m) House Sparrows.

2 (6) Blue Tits and another (4m) House Sparrow were next to be extracted and a (6m) Blackbird was the first of 2. A pair of Long-tailed Tits appeared on the suet balls and it wasn't long before they were caught up in the nets.

Another welcome (4f)House Sparrow and a rather nice (5m) Goldcrest that i had not seen for a few days thankfully came into the garden.

Out of 4 Wood Pigeons in the garden 2 bounced out of the net but 1 a 5 managed to find it self caught in the shelf. The 2nd (6m) Blackbird was the only bird to be caught in the lawn net, i think a different position next time. A (6) Dunnock was welcome and thankfully the one bird i had hoped for a (5m) Great Spotted Woodpecker was caught, i was happy as was the wife and even the neighbour.

That was a fitting conclusion to our first mist net session in the garden. 15 birds processed with a decent species spread. Birds missed were Jay, Magpie, Collared Dove, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Great Tit, all feeding but managing to elude the nets, next time.