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 […]
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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 […]
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.