My World Of Wildlife

On Sunday morning I arrived at Cissbury, Findon at 6:45 to do some bird ringing. I ringed a male Blackbird, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Male Bullfinch, Long-Tailed Tit, Dunnock and Robin. Quite a few were retraps (birds that have been caught and ringed before) but I managed to ringed around 5 or 6. So overall it was quite good for a variety of species.                                                                                           Throughout the morning I saw Red-Legged Patridge (a first for me!), 3 Linnet, Wren, Great Tit, Buzzard and 4 Swallow flying around in the field below where we were. I also heard a Rook calling.

Yesterday I went on a 2 and a half hour walk around Ashdown Forest. Although it was raining when we arrived we were lucky because as we started walking it stopped! I was looking for a Great Grey Shrike which had been reported to be there, but unfortunately we never saw it. Ashdown Forest Walking out onto Ashdown Forest the joyful sound of Chiffchaffs continuously calling was what I heard through out my time there with the occasional burst of song from a Blackbird or Wren. As we walked through some conifers out into a clearing I could see a bird bobbing along in the grass. Looking through my binoculars I could see it was a brown streaked bird, it was a Tree Pipit... Record shot- Tree Pipit We then headed down onto the main path. I could hear many birds singing in among the bright yellow gorse and Ashdown Forests renowned habitat, heathland. This is the best place to see Stonechats as they normally fly and then land on the top of grass. This is what I saw, a male and femal...

This morning I went ringing at Cissbury Ring in Findon. We arrived earlier than usual at 7 and as we did the sun was rising. It turned out to be a beautiful, mild day. Sunrise at Cissbury Ring  I started off by putting up a couple of mist nets for the first time. Throughout the day I ringed 2 Chiffchaffs, a Willow Warbler, Blue Tit, Dunnock, 2 Greenfinch and a male Bullfinch. In the photos below you can see the clear differences between the Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. The Willow Warbler as you can see here is much sleaker and has a much more visible eye stripe. Chiffchaff Willow Warbler Ringing 4 Greenfinches, 2 males and 2 females was quite nice as we could compare the two. Female Greenfinch Male Greenfinch We heard a Red-Legged Patridge, Raven, Blackbird, Skylark and Blackcap whilst we were ringing.