A brief respite from the wind...

A window of opportunity was forecast so the nets at Mallard were open at dawn. Now that the acro passage seems to have slowed down or even finished, we have cut down to just 2 X 60 foot nets in the (very wet, thigh deep in places) reed bed and a couple of 2 shelf nets around the pond edge.
Some movement overhead was promising including Snipe and Skylarks. 13 new Reed Buntings and 2 retraps including one that we had not seen since June 2010 was good. A retrap Cetti's Warbler too was welcome as our numbers of these this year is well down.
But look what turned up next! -
Our first Water rail at Mallard. The only previous one was Aug 2009 at our CES site. This first winter female wandered into the 2 shelf net while I was extracting a Blue Tit from the other end!
The other highlight of the morning was a male Migrant Hawker in the net.
(Photos Dawn)
And then the wind stopped play yet again.....