A Morning of CES - 14th June 2011

After getting a lovely 2 hours sleep last night :( I set out to work at 5.40am. I was due to get to the ringing site by 5.45am but unfortunately the road to work was closed, yet again, due to rogue gypsy horses on the road. After my long detour through the town and out the other side I managed to make it into work at 5.50am - but I still got told off for being late! I had a great morning's ringing with Heather Coats and Ian Hainsworth.



Juvenile Robin

I saw my first proper example of a Growth Band this morning on a juvenile Blackcap. A Growth Band indicates where there has been a change in diet or a lack of food whilst the bird was in the nest.

Growth Band on a juvenile Blackcap

We ringed 42 new birds in total this morning, again consisting mainly of juveniles. Including juvenile Blackcap, Robin and Dunnock. We managed to catch a mixed flock at around 9am which kept us on our toes. Included in the catch were a number of juvenile Blue Tits who haven't quite learned the art of pecking ringer's fingers to bits!



Juvenile Blue Tit, quite cute when their not biting you!

 We also caught a stunning male Bullfinch. Bullfinches which are one of my favourite birds due to the fact that they remind me of dinosaurs with their chunky bills!



Male Bullfinch

 For me the best catch of the day was one of my juvenile Great Tits whom I ringed back on 15/05/11 in the reserve in one of the new bird boxes I had put up in early spring. It was a real treat to see it out of the nest and doing well.

My wee Great Tit all grown up!

Well I'm off tomorrow to Cwm Clydach to try and ring some Pied Flycatchers which will be a  first for me, stay tuned!

CES and Swallow Pulli - Thursday 9th June 2011

The weather was good on Thursday with little wind so we decided to go for the CES ( Constant Effort Site). The ringing group for the CES on Thursday consisted of Cedwyn Davies, myself and Cedwyn's trainer Heather Coats. We arrived just before 6am to put up the nets and set the usual 7 nets in the reserve. We had a good catch of 52 birds consisting of Blackcap, Blue Tit, Long-Tailed Tit, Song Thrush, Chiffchaff, Blackbird, Great Tit, Bullfinch and Robin.

Juvenile Blackbird

We caught a lot of juveniles during the CES, many of them being Blackcaps. I find it very interesting to compare their plumage at this age.



Me and Cedwyn comparing juvenile Blackcaps


I left the CES at 9.30am to go back to the centre and ring some Swallow pulli ( chicks) with Tony Jenkins. I ringed 5 Swallows with Tony and we went around the grounds and checked on the House Sparrow terrace. The House Sparrows have unfortunately failed again this year with no nests recorded, the same as last year :(




Swallow Pulli


When I arrived back a the CES at around 10.15am I discovered that I had missed a large mixed flock :( Typical! The rest of the morning went well. After we packed up we all went up to the centre afterwards for cake and chips!



Juvenile Great Tit

  Later on that day, as I was locking up the bird hides, I saw my first Mute Swan cygnets of the year in front of The Heron's Wing hide.
  

Mute Swan cygnets at WWT Llanelli



The Adventures of Puffin Island - June 4th 2011

Here goes- - my first blog post!

Last Friday I made my way up to North Wales from Llanelli. On my way I saw my first ever Honey Buzzard which was gliding over the car! I spent the night at Steve and Rachel's and in the morning we set out for Puffin Island off Anglesey. We arrived on puffin island at around 9am and spent the next 8 hours clambering up cliffs, wrestling shags and getting crapped upon!


Puffin Island

I had a fantastic day ringing Shag pulli, both Razorbill pulli and adults, Guillemot and an adult Kittiwake. We also caught a beautiful adult Fulmar which was a retrap. I also got to ring my favourite sea bird - a Puffin, there were only two caught, one being ringed by myself and the other by Zac Hinchcliffe http://zacswildlifeblog.blogspot.com/.

Me holding a Puffin

It was great to see the different types of nests and eggs on the island. I especially loved seeing gull chicks hatching out of their eggs and newly hatched Shag chicks. You had to be careful where you walked as not only were there nests everywhere but also tiny gull chicks running about your feet!



Shag chicks, just hatched



I have counted 88 battle scars on me! These birds do pack a punch. The Razorbills especially enjoy drawing blood, hence the reason why whenever I was ringing one I put on my thick hoody for protection - even though it was an extremely hot day.



Adult Razorbill

The special triangular shaped rings that you put on Razorbills were new to me and took some getting used to. Amazingly I found it harder to put them on the squirming pulli than I did on the angry snapping adults!


Razorbill Pulli

In all I had a fantastic day and want to say a big thanks to everyone there and especially to Steve and Rachel for both inviting me and their kind hospitality.