Monday 18 July 2011

Guess who?



Somebody who shall remain nameless said to me upon seeing this: "Yes, I could recognise you in a line up". Ta! I might as well be put out to pasture now!

Wednesday 6 July 2011

Photographs recovered

Thanks to my brother Mark (techno geekus), I was able to recover the photographs I accidentally deleted from Saturday's mega ringing session at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve.



Above: A juvenile Grasshopper Warbler



Above: An adult female Greenfinch



Above: An adult male Greenfinch



Above: An juvenile Greenfinch

Saturday 2 July 2011

Ton up!

Another early start at the weekend = another ringing session. I woke up hoping for a good session, perhaphs 50 + birds (as per recent sessions here), a juvenile Grasshopper Warbler (there should be some about now) and the usual complement of Whitethroats. Could I break my record of 64 birds from 2 weeks ago?

Upon arrival the sun was beginning to rise, burning off the early morning fog and the air was still - an unusual occurrance recently and particularly at this site!

3 nets were erected (2 x 60ft and 1 x 30ft). I was soon catching birds: (retraps in brackets)

Blue Tit 13 (5) = 18 [13 juveniles]
Whitethroat 40 (6) = 46 [40 juveniles]Blackcap 9 (0) = 9 [7 juveniles]
Garden Warbler 0 (1)
Great Tit 6 (8) = 14 [14 juveniles - yes all of them! Where are the adults?]
Dunnock 2 (0) = 2 [both juveniles]
Chiff Chaff 3 (0) = 3 [all juveniles]
Sedge Warbler 3 (0) = 3 [all juveniles]
Wren 1 (1) = 2 [one juvenile]
Goldfinch 5 (0) = 5 [1 juvenile]
Greenfinch 4 (0) = 4 [NEW SPECIES ringed for SSNR - one Juvenile]
Willow Warbler 1 (0) = 1 [an adult]
Grasshopper Warbler 1 (1) = 2 [the new one being a juvenile]
Chaffinch 1 (1) = 2 [one juvenile]

111 birds of 14 species! 80 new birds and 31 retraps.

I suspect having missed a weekend out (last weekend), I caught more birds than I normally would do. By 12pm I had caught nearly 80 birds and the final tally of 111 birds was at 3.30pm. Having slowed significantly and with other things to do, I took the nets down!

Another ringing session today (CES Visit 7 at Priory CP) and 35 birds were caught. Click here for more info.

Sitting here writing this and processing the photographs, my very tired brain deleted yesterday's photographs :o( without the chance of recovery. I would have shown you Greenfinchs (a juvenile, an aduld male & female) and a juvenile Grasshopper Warbler. Whoops! Maybe another time. Now for some sleep!