Bird ringing at Knepp Estate

On Sunday morning I woke up at 3:45 to arrive at Knepp estate (one of the largest re-wilding projects in Lowland Europe) at 5:00 for a ringing session. I was really looking forward to it as I had never been to Knepp Estate before.


 After meeting with some of the ringing 'team' we started to put the nets up. Whilst doing so I heard the squawk of a Tawny Owl in the distance. 2 Great Crested Grebe where on the pond (Hammer Pond) next to us along with there chicks. A Cormorant also kept flying over. Overall I ringed quite a few Chiffchaff as well as a Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Garden Warbler and 2 juvenile Blackbirds. It was also nice to practise my extracting (getting the birds out of the mist nets) because of the variety and amount of birds. Whilst extracting, James (@My_Wild_Life) spotted a Purple Emperor, my first in fact.
The extremely camouflaged underwing of a Purple Emperor 
One of my highlights from the session was a Juvenile Green Woodpecker which as we were doing a net round it flew in the net. As quickly as possible a couple of the ringers managed to carefully take it out of the net (without getting their fingers hammered!). Although I didn't ring it I was quite excited to be able to let it go. It was really amazing to see such a cool bird so close-up. It's beautiful eyes which were grey-blue and the detail in its feather were really noticeable.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Warnham Nature Reserve

Image
Yesterday I went to Warnham Nature Reserve As it was sunny and warm there were many insects and butterflies around such as Common Blues, Skippers, Meadow Browns and Peacocks. Here are a couple of photos I took of the common blue although one of them looked a bit battered: Common Blue Underwing Common Blue A Cricket also made an appearance as it posed to have its photo taken. Cricket The feeders were quiet, with only 6 species appearing- Robin, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Wood Pigeon. Although in the hide that looks over the lake it was a bit busier with 9 species turning up. There was a pair of Mute Swans, Mallard as usual, Tufted Duck as well as 4 Grey Heron (2 were fishing) and Coot. There was also a Little Grebe and a Great Crested Grebe. In the distant reeds I could see a Reed Warbler flitting around. My highlight were a juvenile and male Kingfisher that kept flying around the lake, landing on a perch and then diving for fish. The juvenile
Read more

Have a wonderfully wild Christmas and a Happy New Year..

Image
Sorry I haven't got round to posting over the last couple of weeks however I hope to get out birding after Christmas. The other day I was very pleased to find out that that I got Highly commended in the junior category of the BBC Wildlife blogger awards. I would also like to say a big well done to Zach (@nerdboy386) for winning the category with his brilliant blog! I have also entered the UK blog Awards in the Green and Eco and Photography categories so fingers-crossed I might be able to do as well!  As its Christmas and the year is coming to a close I have decided to post my favorite photos from this year, I hope you enjoy looking at them!  Fly Agaric Kingfisher Kingfisher Grey Heron Adder Little Egret Stonechat Little Egret Great Crested Grebe Common Blue Kingfisher- bird ringing Firecrest- bird ringing Robin Thank you to anyone who has supported this blog over the last year whether it be on Twitter or
Read more

A few thoughts...

Image
Having been birding now for 5 years, with almost every weekend including some sort of time immersed in nature, I thought I would write a few of my thoughts. The first one is about birding or just generally having an interest in the natural world. Usually when I go out to a nature reserve for example, I am not the only birder. But I can guarantee you I will be the only young birder who is a girl there. Occasionally I may see another boy, who has an obvious interest in birds but other than that it is either men or older people, now why is that? Is it the fact that most teenagers are stuck indoors in front of a screen? Or is it that they genuinely don't know how interesting and thrilling the natural world can be? Or could it be that they don't have access to the countryside because they live in a city? Well for me it is a combination of issues. One of them is the stereotype of birding or having an interest in nature, I don't tend to tell new friends about my hobby because
Read more