The last year has been very frustrating for the group as for everybody else. In particular for bird ringing it has meant that we have only been able to ring as separate individuals or last summer with very small numbers of experienced members observing scrupulous social distancing. One serious blow to the group has been […]
Blog
20200328 Can you age Coal Tits?
The other day I caught an unringed Coal Tit on Head Down. I only catch two or three a year at most so it is always a bit of an event. I spread the page in Demongin before I opened the bag, determined to work through it and make a decision this time rather than […]
20200317 Too windy a day
Anthony, John, Celia and myself gathered at 08:30. It felt a bit late now that the light is pretty good at 06:30 but Anthony had three nets up on East already so we had a head start. Later we added three more but the last one we did not open. We had high hopes since […]
20200314 HaseleyWorking Party
A Saturday team comprising Anthony , myself, John, Tina, Chuck, Fiona and Diane met on a morning forecast to be windy but dry. There was a short sharp shower at the start. We discussed the recent flooding when the Eastern Yar came across briefly on West sweeping debris from the woodland floor near the river […]
A Refreshing Morning
With Jim, myself, Jo and Charlie keen to discuss birds in the hand and maintain our knowledge base, and Charlie as the only trainee we had a well-paced morning with him doing the most of the ringing, the books open in front of us and some good learning points. At 0800 it was flat calm, […]
20200228 Haseley High Water
After the net mending Friday 28th. Feb. afternoon I wandered round the nearest parts of the Haseley Reserve in the rain with my camera to record the level of the red-silt-laden water.
20200124 A cheering bird to catch on a dull afternoon
20200124 A cheering bird to catch on a dull afternoon This young Sparrowhawk thudded in to my net on Head Down 24th January 2020 while I was extracting an awkward greenfinch from a separate net close by (their heads are exactly the size of the superfine net meshes). I tucked the bird I was working […]
20200125 Ringing Report
Species N S Age 3 Age 5 Age 6 Age 4 Totals Dunnock 1 1 2 2 Bluetit 5 4 7 2 9 Great Tit 6 2 3 1 6 BB 1 1 1 Goldcrest […]
Recent section activity summaries 20-22 January 2020
The current stable high pressure system, after so much wind and rain has stimulated a flurry of ringing outings at Haseley and elsewhere and this is a summary. More detail may be available later. 20th January Chale Green. I think around 50 birds caught with a good variety including a Firecrest, a Kestrel, a few […]
20200119 Ringing Report
Species N Unringed bird ie New S Previously ringed bird ie ‘Subsequent’ Age 3 (hatched current calendar year) Age 5 (hatched previous calendar year) Age 6 (hatched earlier than last year or this year) Age 4 (Year of hatching unknown but not this calendar year) Totals Blue […]
20200110 Haseley Nest Boxes
[The term “weblog” was coined by Jorn Barger on 17 December 1997. The short form, “blog”, was coined by Peter Merholz, who jokingly broke the word weblog into the phrase we blog in the sidebar of his blog Peterme.com in April or May 1999.] Wikipedia, (thanks Tina). This ‘chatter’ section of the IWRG website is […]
20200427 A slow day yesterday on Head Down, but with some interest.
The day’s catch was 19 birds of nine species, with only one (Great) Tit late in the day. They must be well into breeding up here now though I have yet to find a used nestbox except one with a Wood Mouse. A third recent unringed Bullfinch, female, was a pleasure because I have also […]
20200403 “Pollen Horn”
Most years we come across migrants, often chiffchaffs, that have been feeding on pollen, probably in Iberia and probably from Eucalyptus species. As they feed the sticky pollen matts frontal feathers together to form a horn at e base of the upper mandible. We take it as evidence that the bird has come from the […]