A Busy Day

Monday, April 8th 2013

The ringers were met with Curlew calling and Great Spotted Woodpeckers drumming as they arrived at 0730 this morning.  Throughout the day the ringing room was busy with visitors.  It is very important to us that we welcome visitors to the ringing room so that we can explain what we are doing and why.  Young children are encouraged to watch and try to identify birds, some are very knowledgeable.

Birds are on the move with the warmer weather. Fourteen different species were ringed today and these included 11 new Lesser Redpolls and 8 Siskin.  Other newly ringed birds were Brambling, who are certainly on their way north, Reed Bunting and Coal Tits.  Three controls were processed, two Siskin and one Lesser Redpoll, these birds have been ringed elsewhere.  Details about them will be sent back to us from the BTO.

Thank you to the bird ringers and their supporters - tea makers and cake bakers!

Chris Furphy was out and about on the reserve and photographed a species we did not catch today - Crossbills!  He has very kindly sent us these photographs. Thank you Chris. These birds feed on the seeds from pine cones at the top of conifer trees.  This photograph shows the female.

And this is the male and you can see the crossed beak.

A great shot of the male actually eating the seed and the wing of the seed will be dropped.

The warm weather meant that not only were there many visitors to the reserve but signs of spring were on show too.  A spider was seen, insects were on the wing.  There was a fleeting glimpse of a butterfly and the first 7 Spot Ladybird was recorded.   Pond Skaters and Whirligig Beetles were on the water surface.  Frogs were croaking in the ponds and others were still making their way there.  This one was caught by Chris.

And finally Coltsfoot has made it onto the observation board!

Thank you to everyone who was involved today to make visitors feel welcome and enjoy their visit to Foxglove. 

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