A Surprise!

Monday, October 15th 2012

The morning was still and calm as can be seen in this photograph of the lake.  At 0730 in quite frosty conditions the bird ringers began putting up the nets.

Ringing takes place throughout the year and 20 years of ringing and CES were celebrated with a cake.  Decorations included Foxgloves, birds, an owl and not forgetting the Radio!!

The data set collected over those 20 years is amazing and provides details of longevity, survivability, site fidelity  and productivity. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this data over that time - from the bird ringers themselves to the volunteers who maintain net rides, make tea, and tidy up at the end of each session.

During the day a number of interesting species including Goldcrest, several Treecreeper, Goldfinch, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll and Reed Bunting were amongst the birds handled.  Surprisingly there were 10 new juvenile and adult Bramblings ringed today. These birds usually visit Foxglove at the turn of the year.  

The retraps included a Chaffinch that was at least 7 years old and a Great Tit that was 8 years old.

Removing a bird from the bird bag is always a surprise, but today for the first time in 20 years the small brown bird taken out was the first Tree Sparrow to be caught and ringed on the reserve. 183 birds were processed altogether of 21 different species.

As always with unusual birds, the names of ringers who have not ringed the species are put into a draw.  Liz's name was drawn and so her initials are recorded against the details of this bird.

Thank you to everyone who helped today.

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