Let Loose In Lancs

I've just arrived back from my latest trip down to England and North Wales. Kane and I traveled across to North Wales for the SCAN catch on the Saturday, meeting up with Zac and Matthew Bruce in Bangor. After an early start to set the cannon nets in the dark we hid away amongst some bushes (for 3 hours!) to await the arrival of some Shelduck. Unfortunately the ducks decided not to play ball and so the catch was abandoned just before high tide and we packed up. 

The Hideout!

Just before leaving Wales Kane and Zac managed to catch a Black-headed Gull each and read two metal rings (EG41185 and EX43734).

After arriving back in Manchester Kane found a lovely new packet of L rings waiting for him at home and so we couldn't resist having a go at catching some Canada Geese around Lancashire. We ended the day (and packet of rings!) on 50 new Canada Geese, along with 2 Black-headed Gulls and 3 new Coots for the project. Sadly I cannot say that I have hand caught my first Cango as they are so strong and powerful (quite the handful), all I got was a punch in the face...from the bird not Kane!

Number 50!

Whilst roaming the Lancashire countryside catching Cangos Kane managed to read a number of metal Black-headed Gull rings including both Danish and Finnish controls. He also managed to read a familiar ring - EY02115. This ring belonged to one of the Killington chicks that were ringed during one of the summer ringing trips to the breeding colony this year. This little guy traveled 90km to get to the park we found him in.

EY02115

On Sunday we went to the North West Birdfair at Martin Mere where we enjoyed an excellent talk from WWT's director of conservation on saving the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Whilst at the fair I also joined the BTO ( can finally stop feeling guilty now!) and bought myself a copy of Jenni & Winkler of which I can't wait to use the next time I'm out ringing. Just before leaving we watched the Whooper fed - I think the Martin Mere feed is now my favourite....sorry Caerlaverock! It was also nice to observe a couple of colour ringed Coots whilst watching the feed.

Always a great sight - this one was seen at Plattfield Park whilst out catching Cangos.

Other highlights of the weekend were ringing a few more passerines in the garden and getting to see the famous Southport with it's wind swept Coots! Thanks to Zac for letting us stay over at his flat in Bangor and to Kane for another great weekend and for doing all of the driving.

Colourful Coots - 21st August 2011

Last weekend I went to The Rutland Birdfair 2011 with Chris and Kane. It was great to have 'my boys' back from Iceland and hear about their Whooper chasing adventures, see here for Kane's Whooper blog post.

This was my first time at the Birdfair and I must say I really enjoyed myself. There was so much to see and do and so many interesting people to met and talk to. I loved the fair and will definitely be back. The highlight of the fair was meeting my favourite wildlife celeb: Johnny Kingdom, such a great guy.

Me and Johnny

I got to met so many great people including Stephen Moss, Mike Dillinger, Bill Oddie and lots of people from WWT. The WWT had it's own stand at the fair which was promoting the trust, it's work and in particular the current projects on Common Crane, Madagascar Pochard and Spoon-Billed Sandpiper.

Another highlight of the fair was getting ringed! At the BTO stall you could get ringed as Garden Warbler, Osprey or Pied Flycatcher. Each ring was numbered and you could then go online to discover the story behind the bird that you were ringed as: brilliant idea and great fun!

Photo 'borrowed' from Kane

Of course no weekend with my boys would be complete without a spot of ringing so on Sunday we went to Redsmere to kick off the Coot colour ringing season. It was my first time colour ringing and I have to admit I really enjoyed using bright pink rings!

Colour Ringed Coot

Kane was teaching me how to age the Coots and how he takes biometrics on these feisty little birds. It was great to be able to look at the differences in ages and I think I might be starting to fall for Coots with their red eyes, awesome feet and punky attitude!






In total 8 Coots were caught: 6 new and 2 metal ringed controls. The controls were both ringed in Manchester City Centre and travelled a distance of just under 14 miles. Kane is colour ringing Coots in the North West to discover more about their movements. The project is about to enter into it's 4th year and so far has produced some amazing results: See here. If you see any colour ringed Coots you can email your sightings to kanebrides’@’gmail.com where they would be gratefully received.





My first colour ringed Coot

A nice highlight whilst out looking for Coot was seeing and hearing a Green Sandpiper flying overhead.

Thanks goes to the guys for a brilliant weekend and it's so great to have you back : )