It's looking good.

Just when your about to call it a day something great comes along. A really smart Pied wagtail! And it's always nice to find a pair of Goldcrest in the net. 

A pair of Blackcap are loitering in the bushes. Maybe I'll be lucky. The berries on the holly bush over the road are nearly all gone so I'm hoping to have a few Redwing in the garden soon. Stunning birds.

You Beauty

Another good day in my friend Helen's garden. Goldfinch can be tricky at times. This one does have red behind the eye but with brown on the should and white tipped primaries in good condition it is a 6F. 

The Great-spotted woodpecker was my first on my own. What a delightful 6M. Caught just short of 300 birds since December so very pleased.

Garden Update

What a great start to the year. I've processed 75 birds so far in 2012 and it is only 6th of Jan. Finally caught a Song thrush in the garden and a stunning male Nuthatch. I have ringed over 40 new Goldfinch in my garden since December. Amazing, I thought that I had the same 10 or so every day.

My New Garden Site

What a great first day at my new garden site. Caught 46 birds! Almost all were tits but I did catch this wonderful 3M Green woodpecker. I'm hoping for some Redwing, but then aren't we all!

Made It!

My permit is through and a set of rings arrived on Thursday. So straight up with a net Thursday afternoon. Not much happened until a little billy biter hit the net. My first bird. And unbelievably it was a Control! Fantastic. 

 

Gibraltar Ringing Oct 2011

What an amazing 18 days at the Gibraltar Bird Obs. Thanks to Ray Marsh for acting as trainer and allowing me ring there as a trainee. Ringed over 50 Black Redstart as well as Firecrest, Dartford Warbler, Serin, Nightjar, Red-necked Nightjar, Kestral, Crag Martin, Sardinian Warbler and Scops Owl. Extracting the Short-toed Treecreeper, Hawfinch and Wryneck were real highlights. 

SCAN w/end

Good weekend as usual with SCAN. First session of the season so good to meet up with old friends. Quite a few new faces.
Mist nest session on Friday night with a very late tide so got to bed at 3am! Several Curlew caught, 3 Dunlin, a good number of Redshank, 1 Mallard & 1 Teal. Plus 3 Lapwing which was a new bird for me.
Very good catch of 448 Oystercatchers on Saturday. And about 25% re-traps which is excellent news. Hard work though extracting on a rising tide. Had the night off so we all went to the pub.
Sunday was a Curlew catch. A lot of twinkling was needed and it all came good in the end with 15 birds plus a most excellent bonus of 2 Bar-tailed godwit. Sorry no photo's. Will do better next time.