28 nets opened at 0415, with the last two opened about 90 minutes later when the sun had thawed the ice from them. All 30 nets then operated until 1100.

At last, a good indication of spring migration, with 46 new birds of 14 species. These included 30 Robin, the first Ärtsångare (Lesser Whitethroat) of the year, first Svarthätta (Blackcap) and an adult female Blåhake (Bluethroat), another first for the year and the earliest caught on Landsort by two days (29th April 2001).

Also caught was an adult male Stenskvätta (Wheatear) that was ringed on Landsort as a 2Y male in April 2014.

The afternoon will be spent replacing a number of old nets in Bredmar with the new ones that arrived last week and putting the final posters about public guided walks at North Harbour.

Public ‘pop-in’ talks are taking place each Wednesday and Sunday at 1130 from 3rd May to 27th August, so anyone wanting to join us to learn more about the work on the Observatory, facts about migration and hopefully see some birds being ringed is more than welcome.