The weekend was gorgeous but not great for birds as there was quite a breeze. The friday evening saw us at a swallow roost by the sea - there was a bit of commotion with mackerel driving in whitebait which had become stranded on the beach by their thousands:
This meant I spent a lot more time rescuing the fish than at the bird mist nets. I also had to rescue a mackerel who'd been over keen and had got himself stranded as well. Later a seal came in to eat the mackerel so it was all go. Birds ringed that evening were swallow (all juvenile), one starling, a reed warbler and that was about it. A hobby was flying overhead trying to chase any unsuspecting juvenile swallows.
Every day was a 06.45 start - the saturday we walked down to the spit area where the mist nets are:
and each had a turn in ringing. We practiced on wire legs first before the real thing. Most birds caught were reed warbler:
a couple of sedge warblers:
A blackcap which I ringed and a lovely little robin which of course, Robin ringed:
By 08.30 on each day the birds were drying up. The trainers said it was the slowest for a long time, perhaps because of the late cold spring. Just as things were starting to get slow, a sparrowhawk came in:
A beautiful juvenile, probably female.
The weekend was great - good company, good accomodation and great trainers. I learnt all that I had gone for, from setting up a net and dismantling to how to ring birds. We also had classroom sessions on migration and data inputting plus the reasons behind ringing in the age of new technology. I wouldn't say I am confident enough to ring birds and may stick to wild flowers but as the training is a minimum of 2 years, watch this space.
Perhaps I should practice on my chickens.....
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