Bird Ringing

This morning I went bird ringing at Leith Hill.

It was very foggy and you could see many spiders webs where the dew had settled on them. There were so many! As I arrived I was quite surprised to see a very late Whitethroat had been caught and was being ringed by another trainee!


A few Grey Wagtails were calling throughout the time I spent there although none were caught unfortunately. We caught many Goldcrest as well as a few Siskin. I ringed quite a few Chiffchaffs as they are still migrating through Leith Hill at the moment. 

Chiffchaff
I also ringed a couple of Finches, first was a Greenfinch then a young Goldfinch.

Goldfinch
Sightings and caught birds were: Green Woodpecker, Meadow Pipit, Robin, 5 House Martin, Pheasant, Coal Tit, Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldcrest, Wren


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fishlake Meadows, Hampshire

Image
On Wednesday I made the 2 hour train journey down to Romsey in Hampshire to meet up with Tom Saunders (@TommySaunders19) and walk around Fishlake Meadows nature reserve. After a short walk from the train station we made it to a viewpoint which looks over the lake.


From the viewpoint we could see a great crested grebe with chicks, greylag and canada geese and lots of hirundines. Then an adult hobby appeared in the distance, gracefully swooping in the air as it attempted to catch insects in flight. A few minutes later a huge white bird flew towards us and as it got closer it was clear it was a great white egret.


We then walked along the canal path and to our surprise a nightingale flew into some vegetation in front of us, giving brief views before disappearing. Further along the path, a kingfisher dived into the reeds and we could hear the squealing call of a water rail. Also we spotted a cormorant as it flew down onto the lake as well as a kestrel hovering in the sky. A cetti's war…
Read more

Happy New Year! A summary of my 2018...

Image
I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! It's been a while since I last posted on here, but now that I've got some spare time, as its the holidays, I thought I'd write a summary of this year. 2018 has been a quieter year for me although a few events such as The People's Walk for Wildlife really stand out.


January

January started off well with a visit to Pulborough Brooks, where I managed to see 32 species on the 1st including a lifer of Whooper Swan and Barnacle Goose. I finally got round to joining Sussex Ornithological Society and attended their annual conference and after 3 attempts saw my first Hawfinch during the invasion we had of them. I also was pleased to have 3 photos of mine shortlisted in the young bird photographer of the year.


February 

I was lucky enough to write an article for the brilliant New Nature magazine on one of my favourite nature reserves, Pagham Harbour.


Also I went to Cuckmere Haven and had a good day of birding, seeing a Peregrine Falcon and g…
Read more

BTO Birdcamp 2018!

Image
Last weekend (25th-27th May) was BTO Bird Camp, sponsored by the Cameron Bespolka Trust, based at the Nunnery in Thetford, Norfolk.

Friday After having my final English literature exam and doing some last minute packing I was very grateful to be able to get a lift to the BTO headquarters with James (@My_Wild_Life). After 4 hours of travelling, due to the traffic, we finally arrived. The majority of people were already there, so it was great to be able to meet everyone I knew and had talked to over social media. After having dinner outside we headed into the nunnery, had an introduction about the weekend and learnt a bit about the Cameron Bespolka Trust. We were then put into small groups and were given cards of birds that needed to be matched up with their names. Also they had to be separated into species where the males and females had different or the same plumage. Our group did pretty well!

Next, we were given envelopes that contained pieces of paper which had written on them: caree…
Read more