Thursday afternoon saw a few of the group attempting to catch a pied wagtail roost that had been building to over 500 birds in recent days. The birds had been using two or three clumps of trees so the key was selecting the right one. we set up three nets- a double height (8shelf) 30 in front of one roost tree and some around one tree. the flock dithered and a few decided that our trees would be the best for the evening and we caught 10% of the flock. 58 birds in total- including 2 white wagtails and 2 birds wearing rings.
The ringed birds were from a roost 2.9 miles to the south east. the first ringed 11 days previously (where Dave and Will caught 5 birds after running around a busy petrol station with nets(!)) and the other was from this same roost ringed earlier this year. The sex ratio was even and there were approx 80% juveniles. All birds were roosted overnight in boxes (to save bending tails in bags) and released at first light the following day. Hopefully the roost will stay in the same place and we can try again.
