Hard Graft

The Tern raft needed some repairs. I said "you're having a girraft if you think I'm helping you turn that thing over." But they didn't, and we did, twice, so here is the story in pictures and captions!



Above: Matt and Steve placing the polystyrene scientifically!



Above: Securing the polystyrene with chicken wire. No chickens were hurt during the making of this!



Above: After Terning the raft back over, we put the gravel back on, attached perches (it's all in the details) and got the anchors on board ready for the journey.



Above: A boat powered by Matt & oar, towed us along by one corner while Steve used a spade to take a square raft into deeper waters! How did we ever get it out there without mishap! I just increased the drag in the water so I could take photographs!



Above: Finally, we anchored it and left. No sooner had we left it than the cormorants found it and started drying their wings in the sun! AKA Steve (left) and Mark (Right).

Getting to grips

There is another reason these tyres will be good - for us ringers. With any luck, when the terns nest, they will use these tyres. When we go out to the island to roundup and ring the terns this year, although we will still have to tread carefully, it should be easier to locate and replace the chicks back in the same location.



Above: Place sections of turf/soil carefully around the tyre to soften the view. Then repeat the whole process until you have run out of tyres.



Above: A long job requires sustenance. I didn't bring lunch along with me so I ordered takeaway pizza!



Above: The final product close up.



Above: A good spread - we had lots of room to play with here and have 12 tern tyres. Terns do nest quite close together, so if this experiment works, we may well roll out more for next year!

Mark has vowed to do a study into which make of tyre works best, goodyear, michelin, pirelli - I think it's all an excuse to get a pirelli calender!

I don't know about you, but I'm tyred (Broom Broom!) of all the puns.

Reinventing the wheel

I woke to a phone call this morning at 9.50am (a well deserved lie in) from Mark. "how soon can you get over to broom?". A lazy day gone out of the window, I found mylself cycling from Bedford to Broom (approx 50mins and 10 miles). I didn't know what Mark had in store for me to do ...



Above: Extreme fly tipping! All that effort to dump tyres out on the island! Well, at least that is what it looked like to two passers by who were watching with their binoculars (or were they taking photographs?)!

Here is what we actually did ... (patented by Mark Thomas!)

Above: Back on the island Mark had a use for the tyres. 1st, you dig a round hole.

Above: A back seat driver!

Above: Place the tyre in the ground (no need to bury it) and use the turf to partially fill the tyre and weigh it

down.

Above: Partially fill the tyre with gravel. Once finished, it should be about half full.

The reason for doing this is to create a nesting ground for Terns (in this case the common variety). The tyre is part buried to soften, or even hide them from view. The advantage this method has is that baby common terns can hide from predators under the lip of the tyre (which can be left in tact or cut away a bit).

What I've been doing

I've been out and about a lot - for work. Here are a few images of what I've been doing.



Above: A coppice stool. I've been taking out experienced volunteers to coppice hazel for product (stakes & binders for hedgelaying) and I've also been teaching people how & why we do it.



Above: My regular team of volunteers worked late in the day to finish constructing this raised pond.

Above: A student from Cranfield University is laying his first tree!

Above: 16 - 25 year olds (with an Autism Spectrum Disorder) from Autism Bedfordshire, Samuel Whitbread School and Mark Rutherford School and their support worked at Priory Country Park to improve a woodland for biodiversity.

It's snowing!

Jack Hammer!!

This is the same Jack Snipe as featured in my last post only it was caught for a second time 3 weeks later. Thus proving that this bird is at least staying around Bedfordshire for a while! A bit of habitat management was carried out to provide a roosting area & good access to feeding grounds for this and other Jack Snipe.



Above & below: Jack Snipe in profile & 'in flight'.





Above: Jack Snipe from behind.



Above: A Yellowhammer.

This yellowhammer was one of many that we ringed. This particular bird is an adult male.

Jack Frost

Jack Frost has been visiting us quite a lot recently. The ice on the water was nearly an inch thick! But we braved the cold for my 62nd species on the ringed list. A big thank you to Mark for this opportunity (sorry I accused you of being a Utd fan - I didn't mean to! I knew better but just didn't engage my brain before I spoke).

Above: A Jack Snipe. My camera & photographic skills aren't up to much but I may have more to post later.

Barnacle Geese have been on my ringed list for nearly 1 year & 6 months. This flock (photographed above) could contain birds with colour rings on them that the Ivel Ringing Group placed on them (they are only a couple of miles from the site where we ring these birds).

A restaurant for birds

This 'restaurant' is exclusively for birds - but does get raided by the occasional hog (of the spikey hedge variety) during the night. Regulars to this feeding table at my dad's house are many. Here are but a few:



Above: This coal tit grabs a take away (they never eat in).



Above: Many years ago, my dad would be gardening and would be visited by Snowy - a blackbird with a few white feathers. He even got Snowy to feed from the hand. The blackbird above is not Snowy, but we presume one of several descendants. Son? Grandson? Great Grandson? Who knows, but a regular visitor none the less.

There were at least 6 different blackbirds visiting the garden (5 seen at once + the one pictured above). Across the road, between 15 and 20 blackbirds were seen (all at once) underneath 2 apple trees eating the fallen apples.



Above: A relatively new visitor to the table. This Pied Wagtail, being the first of this species (that we know of) to visit the garden, was noted by my dad for its unusual yellow face. In fact, this bird is experiencing its first ever winter and the yellow face is typical of Pied Wagtails of this age. It will, at some point this year, replace the yellow with the white found in adult birds.

Pied Wagtails are not alone in having yellow faces (while in juvenile plumage). Blue Tits and Great Tits have this too, although they have lost this feature almost entirely by the autumn.

Last year I went on a walk with my dad in the Cotswolds near his house. I saw a flock of 200 + chaffinch & some brambling & some yellowhammers & 200 + Fieldfare & Redwing all in one place. This year a walk in the same area revealed 200 + chaffinch (mostly male & including some yellowhammers). Maybe when (if) I get my C permit, I will get to ring these. Assuming that they are there next winter!

Rock-a-bye baby!

Below: Me cradling an Oystercatcher after I put a ring on its leg.

Wash Wader Ringing Group November weekend

My 3rd trip to the wash (all this year) brought my first experience of a no catch session on Saturday morning. Undeterred, we went mist netting for waders.




Above: A view of the outgoing tide on Snettisham Beach




Above (right wing) & below (left wing): Both wings of an Oystercatcher with an abnormal moult pattern. Both wings began moult as normal but at some stage must have stopped and started again out of sequence. The brown feather is old, black feathers are new. In addition, the moult is at different stages on each wing (normally birds do the same on each wing). This bird was clearly not in a good condition & was only therefore replacing feathers when it had the energy to do so. There were odd feathers on other parts of the bird that had not moulted either. This oystercatcher also only had 2 toes (instead of 3) on each foot - could this mean that it has had trouble feeding and this is why it is in a bad condition?







Above: This Knot has travelled all the way from Norway to the wash. How do I know? It had a Norwegian ring on its leg!