Getting back to normal.

Ringed for the first time at my new site on the fleet this morning. Its a small headland with lots of scrub which should hopefully hold a few goodies over the coming few months. It was used for ringing occasionally back some years ago and turned up some decent birds such as Wryneck, Pied Fly etc. Whilst we were putting the nets up there a few evenings ago we saw loads of Whitethroat plus at least three Redstart as well as the usual other passage stuff. It was no big surprise that this morning’s catch consisted of good numbers of Whitethroat. A few Lesser Whitethroat also jumped into the net plus a reasonable amount of resident species including every ringer’s favourite bird, the Wren. Here are a few shots.

My ringing and birding should be getting back to normal shortly after a very busy few weeks at work. I have managed a bit of ringing at Radipole and Abbotsbury where acro’s and Yellow Wagtails are making up most of the catches. Steve Hales, who’s my ringing trainer, has started a blog just for Abbotsbury, so head to http://abbotsburyswanneryringing.blogspot.com/ for some pics and more info. That’s all for now.

A County First!

Though it was back in Gwent and was in 2008. I got an email from the Gwent county recorder today to say that a Common Redpoll which was in my uncle’s garden in spring 2008 has finally been accepted by the Welsh Rarities Panel. The species has been under review in the country which meant all records went on hold but obviously acceptable criteria has been established for identification and the bird in mention obviously fits!

Here are a few shots of the little beauty.

Gulls Galore

I’ve been working a bit more at the visitor centre at Radipole recently which has allowed me to keep an eye on the gulls that are currently moving through. There’s been a lack of Yellow legged Gull records recently and given that everywhere else was getting them I assumed that Radipole would be getting its fair share. I was correct. Today I remembered to take my camera but on arrival this morning hardly any gulls were on show. Thankfully during the afternoon a couple of Yellow legged Gulls showed up plus a couple of juv/1^st winter Med Gulls.

Here’s a couple of shots from today

A different bird



The med which is well on its way towards 1^st winter plumage.

Also a few juv Lesser Black backed Gulls were stopping off briefly which probably aren’t local birds.

A day of firsts

This all actually happened a few days ago but hadn’t found chance to blog. First up was a new species ringed by me at Abbotsbury. These are quite scarce at the site and I think only a handful have been ringed there by Steve over the last 16 years! Its a Whitethroat.

Ringings been ticking over nicely at the site over the last week with most visits producing 80 or so birds. Garden Warbler has featured in most visits but unfortunately no more Groppers yet. When the acros quieten down we then switch on the swallow tape for a while and as well as Swallows we’ve caught a few of these.

Over the next few weeks we will probably catch a lot of Swallows as number of passage birds starts to build up.

Also on Tuesday I found a new species for Radipole Lake. Its something I’ve had my eye on for a while but up until now have failed to find any. To get a record shot I asked Allan Neilson who’s one of Radipoles incredible volunteers, to stand around with his 400mm lense and photograph this small insect which wouldn’t come anywhere near the bank. Amazingly he came back with this photo of a Small Red eyed Damselfly!

This afternoon I re-visited the Lodmoor Stilt Sandpiper which has now moved onto the main moor which makes it a hell of a lot easier to see compared to where it was first. I managed a few pictures most of which looked like this.