Sand Martin session 1

This was our first Sand Martin session of the year and to be honest, with the weather being a little breezy and on the cool side, it was a little slow. We did have a good turn out though and we welcomed Claire who joined us for her first taste of ringing.

For me, the evening's highlight was the second flypast of a Hobby; several times it banked and dived steeply over our pond.

19 New birds – Sand Martin 8, Reed Warbler 3, Sedge Warbler 3, Whitethroat 2, Reed Bunting 2, Swallow 1.

Net lane preparation

It was raining when I awoke this morning so I set off to strim a couple of net lanes in the rain. Somewhat surprisingly, the rain hadn’t touched the ringing site so a couple of nets were hastily erected. 7 New birds and 7 net lanes strimmed – Including one for Sand Martins later this week.

7 New birds and (2) retraps – Robin 2, Long-tailed Tit 1 (1), Whitethroat 1 (1), Sedge Warbler 1, Chaffinch 1, Blackbird 1.

Phew! Rain at last

With the exception of bringing you the breaking news on the Nightjar I've been too busy to update my blog of late. So here's a photographic snapshot of my ringing over the past week.

What's with the white egg?

Oh how cute

Krazy with a K

Feel the pain

Our new line of insect houses

Makes all the Blue Tits worth while

Slim chance of ringing these

How can you fall in love with this?

The best of neighbours

Seeing red

This one had some buzz about it

With thanks to Pete, Colin, Andy, Kane, the climbers, and everybody else that came along too.

Return of the Nightjar

With the exception of a brief churr last year, Nightjar have been absent from our area for a number of years. But this year, a small number are back in the Washburn Valley. Both male and female have been sighted so hopefully we’ll have a breeding pair. On this occasion it was the male that was ringed.

Nightjars are back