Another 5.30am start on Saturday as we had to put the nets out from scratch. Its surprising how long this takes! It wasnt a great start as it absolutely lashed down with rain early on, but we stuck it out and waited for it to lift before finally getting the chance to put them up. Unfortunately we had light showers off and on for most of the morning, and in the end we were beaten by an increasingly heavier gale and finished quite early at 10.30ish. Species caught were Dunnock, Goldfinch, Blackbirds, Chaffinch and the highlight 3 Chiffchaffs. 9 birds were trapped in total.
Sunday morning we had a 6.00am start as the nets were already up we just had to unfurl them. As we got out the car we saw a big male Fox leaving the mound, a superb start to the day! Today we were joined by Adrian as he was down from Scotland for the weekend visiting relatives. Again it was a relatively quiet day for birds trapped. Species caught were Dunnock, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Blue Tit & Goldfinch. Like yesterday 9 birds in total. But the undoubted highlight of the day was getting the chance to ring my first bird!!! As Adrian is a qualified trainer he kindly allowed me to ring the last bird of the day - a female Chaffinch. It was an absolute thrill to get the chance to do this and something that will stay with me for a long long time.
After the Ringing I had a quick visit to Marsden and saw my first Sand Martins, Kittiwakes & Razorbills of the year. And then on the way home I saw my first Pintail at Boldon Flats.
Chiffchaff (top) Blue Tit (middle) & Chaffinch (bottom)
Congratulations on your first ringing. However as my trainer said to me (I only started in Autumn last year) 'That's the easy bit done!'. There's so much to learn - keep at it.
ReplyDeleteThanks mate! It's absolutely fascinating stuff isnt it? I'm really looking forward to the next few years, it'll be hard work but worth it in the end!
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