Today has been a very bird-filled day! I started with ringing at Bowdown, putting three nets up - one of which was 18 metres so I thought I wouldn't stretch myself with putting a fourth net up, just in case I got inundated!
The first 5 captures were Long-Tailed Tit's which was hardly surprising since they were beeping away all around me for the first half of the morning 😄 they were caught in the footpath net. Then a Marsh Tit and a Garden Warbler in the net ride that Ian found when we went out as a group last Sunday was great! I will definitely be putting that net up again! All the 18 metre net caught all morning was a retrap Chiffchaff - a female just starting to develop a brood patch.
Corinne, who helps check the Dormouse boxes at Bowdown, came to visit at 9 and we had a nice time chatting about Dormice, birds and butterflies 😄 she has since kindly emailed over some documents to help with my Dormouse licence training - thank you so much! 💓 I thought it would be another no-show like at the demonstration on Saturday, but at 10:30 a female Bullfinch went into the footpath net 😊 a nice little bird to be able to show!
I'd just finished getting the first net in at the end of the day when Roger Dobbs, Bowdown reserve warden, came over for a chat. He was doing a butterfly transect and a lovely day for it, too! I really like Bowdown - a great place to ring, I'm getting involved with the Dormice here, bird nest boxes, and I'll be doing some bird surveys for Simon here soon as well!
I'm so good at making birds look really unphotogenic, but it was very pretty I promise! The Garden Warbler from the new net ride:
Here are the totals for this mornings session:
This afternoon I met up with Steve to check the nest boxes here at Bowdown and also at Aldernbridge Gulley (spelling..?). One clutch of Great Tit's at Bowdown were ready to ring today, but I haven't put the information into IPMR yet. I think I will wait until I'm with Jan so that I can make sure that I'm not doing it wrong! (I think it's mostly like normal, so age code 1 - pulli, but do I put the wing measurement (1 - 2 mm showing through the sheath) in? Or should I leave the wing length blank? Or put it in an "own" column. I know that I need to put the box number in an "own" column, too.)
When we got to the other site, who do we happen to bump into? Simon and the CT's!! They had just finished doing their Habitat Condition Assessments so they came along to check the boxes with Steve and I. A couple of clutches - one Great Tit and one Nuthatch - look as though they might be ready to ring in a few days, so Simon and I might go out late afternoon on Friday or in the morning on Saturday to ring those.
So yeah, it's been a very birdy day, and to top it off Simon and I went and did a full weekly shop (we made a list and everything!) It's time to chill now, before another morning of ringing tomorrow at the sewage works!
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