With the weather calm on 30th December and Jan having to get up early I decided to open a mist net in the garden in the hope of catching a few Redwing. No Redwings but I got a real surprise when this 1st calendar year Brambling ended up in the mist net. I'd not see one in the garden or around my local village patch this winter period. We had a single bird around the bird feeders last April but it didn't hang around.
This bird was particularly bright and was aged as a 3 male (born current calendar year) as it had a moult contrast in the greater coverts with three browner retained outer juvenile feathers with the rest being adult type that it would have moulted into during its post juvenile moult.
A stunning bird. It's not often I get to ring Brambling so it was a real treat. We did manage to ring 23 in one session on Fetlar a few years ago (see here) and this was the first I'd ringed since then.
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