WE'RE BACK!!!!!

After a long and very boring winter away from the Coastal Park, the doors of the little green Ringing Hut were re-opened again at 6.00am on Sunday morning. And boy was it good to be back!!! It felt like we were back home. We all knew we wouldn't in any way get a big catch as the migrants have only just started to trickle in, but the fact that things WERE starting to trickle in meant we had to get the Ringing season underway. The weather was nice and sunny but was also quite breezy so we didn't put all of the nets out. As expected, things were really quiet with only a Blue Tit and Goldcrest caught in the first four hours, so we decided to pack up at 10.30am. Despite the fact it was so quiet it didn't matter at all, it was just great to be back and in the swing of things again.
It wasn't only the Ringing season that had re-started, but the Moth trap was switched back on this weekend as well. Quite a good number of Moths were caught on the Sunday morning, with the bulk of them being Hebrew Characters (41). There were also a couple of Common Quakers and Clouded Drabs.
On Saturday morning a few members of the CCG were back over the Coastal Park to knock up some fencing in the area where the stone viewing screen was erected. When the contractors put the screen up they had to knock down the existing wooden fence, and unfortunately the remaining gaps had led to the local kids nipping in and making a bit of mischief, so we popped over and plugged in the gaps. Its a shame we actually had to, but that's the sign of the times unfortunately.
While in the Nature Reserve I had a quick look in the Reedbed Pond to see how the Toads were doing, and frankly they are doing mighty fine! I was speaking to the local amphibian expert the other day and he reckons there are between 700 and 800 Toads this year, an incredible number, and really emphasises how important this place is.