Another chance for a bonus session on Salisbury Plain saw us driving along the gravel track to the site at 0415. As well as chasing a Badger for some distance we flushed a couple of wheatear and a Nightjar off of the track. Once we got to our site we quickly put up the net where we've caught them a few times before with a lure playing and by the time all the nets were up we had managed to catch it.
The usual spread of Whinchat and Stonechat were caught in the single net we have at the bottom of a valley and a couple of two-shelf nets along the track caught a few more chats along with the more expected Whitethroat's and Linnet's as well as an unexpected Yellow Wagtail which was a first for the site.
It was another big day for Whitethroat with 30 ringed and of the scarcer migrants we also caught 4 Grasshopper Warbler and 3 Redstart. Sedge Warbler and Willow Warbler passage is still ongoing but numbers of these species will drop off dramatically over the next week while Blackcap which has been virtually absent from the site this August will start increasing in numbers. GD,PD,OF
143 new, 12 retraps
Nightjar 1, Tree Pipit 1, Meadow Pipit 15, Yellow Wagtail 1, Wren 5(2), Robin 6, Redstart 3, Whinchat 6, Stonechat 4, Blackbird 3, Song Thrush 5, Grasshopper Warbler 4, Sedge Warbler 9, Reed Warbler 3, Lesser Whitethroat 4, Whitethroat 30(2), Garden Warbler 7(2), Blackcap 4(4), Chiffchaff 2(1), Willow Warbler 11(1), Long Tailed Tit 1, Chaffinch 1, Goldfinch 3, Linnet 5, Yellowhammer 5, Reed Bunting 4