Make Do and Mend!

Today was not the usual Sunday ringing birds at Foxglove; our intention was to make good a couple of the mist nets we put up to catch the birds.

The nets get torn if caught up in bramble and at times Roe Deer have run through them or holes appear from just wear and tear. It is quite a fiddly job to patch and replace the fine nets, but at over £100 pounds each net it is time well spent. 

A lull in the weather did enable us to put out a couple of nets for a short spell enabling us to process about 60 birds from Redpolls to Blue Tits. We checked the nets every 10 minutes to extract the birds and limit any exposure to the elements.

Sophie, our Chairperson, took these pictures of this lovely murmuration of Starlings near Bedale. It is always a fantastic spectacle to watch before they dive through their vortex to their roost site in the reed beds.

Jenny, one of our ringers, took this photo of a Roe Deer as she left the reserve.  Quite often it is the flash of their rear end that is seen. You never know what you will see at FGC!