…ringing!
A later start time for Saturday mornings session with a 0700hrs met, unfortunately I didn’t have my sat-nav with me and having only been to this location a couple of times previously, both times arriving in the dark, I missed a turning (probably due to the heavy fog I encountered) and ended up getting a little lost! I did manage to get on the right track quite quickly and arrived only 7 minutes late. The others had already set off on the 1km hike to the site.
We where 6 strong with 2 trainers, 3 trainees and a ‘helper’, you are classed as a helper for your first few sessions, this allows time to see if you are compatible with ringing and the ringing group are compatible with you!
We set-up, which is quite taxing as the ground in places is a boggy substrate, you can suddenly find yourself knee-high in acidic brown water!
Our catching expectations where low because this time of year the bird numbers can be quite low as it turned out though it was quite the opposite with well over 100 birds processed. I personally had a great session registering 3 new species and processing a total of 30 birds in all.
- Chiff (Chiffchaff) x 1
- Bluti (Blue tit) x 2
- Goldc (Goldcrest) x 7
- Coati (Coal tit) x 1 species first
- Lotti (Long-tailed Tit) x 2
- Lesre (Lesser Redpoll) x15
- Wren x 1 species first
- Siski (Siskin) x 1 species first
The 3 species first this week now takes my total species list to 40, I’m sure the next 40 will take a tadge longer!
Leave a Reply