Sunday 29 January 2012

Bramble Jammy

This weekend I've been ringing at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve. There has been, as has been typical of this winter, a lack of birds coming to the feeders. However, this weekend a lack of quantity was made up for in quality (at least in my humble opinion).



Above: One of 5 Lesser Redpoll's ringed (previous site total = 2). Unfortunately, I saw a few more Redpoll's 'bounce' but I can't complain. 1 Siskin also ringed (the Siskin flock is smaller c. 150 at best this year than last c.300 at best, and still proving difficult to catch).

At 11.10am this morning I got jammy.



Above: A Brambling - a first for SSNR and my first self caught Brambling. A complete surprise as I hadn't even seen them on site before. It came to the feeders (so there is hope of catching more). Not many Bramblings have ever been ringed in Bedfordshire so I can count myself lucky.

What I didn't post earlier:

On Boxing day at my Dad's house, I caught a Blue Tit with an abnormally long beak. This kind of thing does happen, and when it does, one of the mandibles is usually longer than the other and/or misshapen. This one however was well formed and both mandibles were of equal length.



Above: The mandible of the Blue Tit on the left was 14mm compared to a more normal length of 8mm for the Blue Tit on the right.

On the 5th October last year, I added another species to my ringed list. Mute Swan at Priory Country Park. I include this so you can have a laugh at the photo below. It really wasn't as painful for me (or the bird) as the picture makes it look...

Bird Jigsaws

I've been keeping quiet of late for various reasons, though there hasn't been a great deal to report. I hadn't done any jigsaws in a while but managed this one over xmas of Kingfishers:



And this Wentworth jigsaw (with whimsies) of a Great Tit.