The demise of an intrepid Blue Tit

It’s always nice when you get one of your ringed birds recovered. Usually it’s a migrant which has be re-trapped elsewhere on its travels but one recent recovery was quite a surprise. It’s often thought that Blue tits don’t do a lot in terms of moving large distances. Of course they do stuff like feed, breed and bite your fingers whilst you ring them but a Blue Tit I ringed in a garden back in my homeland of Gwent travelled all the way to Greater Manchester! It was total distance of 207 km which is a pretty significant movement. However the Blue Tit sadly met its end by a cat but I suppose I should thank the cat as it wouldn’t have been recovered if it wasn’t for the pesky feline. For some reason I can’t find a picture of a Blue Tit but surely you know what one looks like!

Another recent recovery was a Bullfinch which went from the fleet all the way to Dorchester, which isn’t far but still a nice recovery none the less. This one didn’t end up as cat food, thankfully it was caught by another ringer and was released unharmed. I can’t find a picture of a Bullfinch either so instead of having a picture-less post (something we all hate!) here’s the last (well… maybe) picture from Spain. This time an adult Night Heron which is nothing like a Blue Tit or a Bullfinch but its better than nothing...

Its only a Night Heron!

It’s not very often that I find myself a lifer, in fact not since an Aquatic Warbler I found at the Newport Wetlands in September 2007. Today was always going to be good as I was going to be leading a Dawn Chorus walk. I led a walk in the week and it was superb, we had kingfishers posing for the punters, Marsh Harriers food passing, Bearded Tit and a whole host of other good stuff. So after that success I was hopeful that Radipole would produce the goods yet again. It certainly did as one of the first birds we got was this 1^st summer Night Heron. Couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing, though a few people on the walk couldn’t quite see what all the fuss was about. After all it’s a greyish brown bird (not my words!) but it’s a lifer and the first at Radipole in some time. This shouldn’t have been a lifer as there’s been one over at Bournemouth recently but as I am not year listing I never made the effort. Photos were few and far between as the bird could not be approached and was repeatedly being flushed by people (some with their canine friends) wandering around the reserve. I did get lucky (though my exposure was all over the place!) and get a few shots when it was flushed and flew down the reserve right towards me.

By mid morning it had settled in this tree where it stayed for a while but was seen not long after I left and was flying back to where I had first found it.

As far as I know it’s not been seen since then but could easily be lurking somewhere on the reserve so a walk around at dusk might be in order. I must also mention that I also saw a female Goldeneye this morning. Very strange place for one to be in May??