Green woodpecker in the hand

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My posting will become much more sporadic now that I have very little time free for getting out - the pressures of work commitments prevent that. This is a green woodpecker (Picus viridis) - the first I've ringed. Gorgeous in the hand, but I was left with the scars to show how robust their feet are...

Ringing Tuesdays - bald blue tits and pulli ringing

A beautiful morning with mist rising from the Embrook as the sun rose, promising a better day for ringing than the recent chilly mornings. It seemed relatively quiet, but turned out to be a good haul, with almost 70 birds trapped. I processed 31 birds of 13 species, of which 22 were new, and extracted 23 - a good addition to my ringing totals. The usual mix of thrushes, warblers and tits made up the bulk of birds, including a large family party of long-tailed tits, the majority of which had just fledged.

This blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus; below - click for larger) was typical of the females we were catching - looking very tatty. The feathers are abraded and displaced as the bird enters and exits small nesting cavities, but indicate no significant damage. This female has lost many of the head's contour feathers, including the ear coverts, showing the bird's ear canal.

Entomological interest also improved, with many damselflies, alderflies and mayflies (Ephemera danica; left - click for larger) active, as well as large numbers of banded mosquitoes Culiseta annulata, which were less welcome.

Terns were present in good numbers, male and female cuckoos called, and a hobby hunted overhead as the heat rose. A grass snake hunted by the lake margins.

After lunch I got the chance to ring some blue and great tit pulli (28 from 3 broods and 8 from 1 brood respectively) on campus, and I hope I'll be able to build up numbers over the next week or so.

University Farms

Completed a field-workers first aid training course on one of the University farms. During the lunch break I wandered off with my sandwiches to see what was about. Lovely afternoon, with swallows darting into the farm buildings, garden warblers and blackcaps singing in the hedgerows and a cuckoo calling. Lapwings were displaying over a tilled field, flashing black and white as they tumbled to the ground, calling continually. A buzzard was harassed by a pair of carrion crows, never letting up until it disappeared from sight.

Ringing Tuesdays - still cold

A very chilly morning, with frost on the car. Numb fingers makes extractions difficult, and there was relatively little movement. No time for pictures again as the chill meant that rounds were non-stop. Small summer migrants birds such as willow warblers really didn't appreciate hanging in the cold air for long. In total I processed 20 birds, of which only 6 were new, and extracted 7. Nothing startling, with the highlight being a pair of bullfinch. Cuckoos called, the oystercatcher pair flicked about and a little egret few over, providing the other highlights.

More night-vision foxes

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I made a couple of minor adjustments to the camera trap set up from last night, used peanuts as bait, and a much better performance from the fox resulted! The reflection of the IR beam in the dining room window is an annoyance, but the key thing is that it works.

Night vision filming - garden fox

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I've just bought a Stealth Cam Prowler HD trail camera, which will film and photograph wildlife automatically when they trip the sensor. I'd been keen to try the infra-red night filming, so last night I strapped it to an apple tree in the garden, and left some surplus ham out as bait. It worked - attracting this fox, which made a few visits in the dark.

Ringing Tuesdays

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Very quick post and no photographs. Another successful, but cold morning meant no time to stop, as it is imperative that the birds are not exposed to the cold for too long - they can get chilled very quickly. More warblers (reed, sedge, willow, garden, as well as blackcap and chiffchaff), wrens, long-tailed and blue tit, bullfinch, dunnock, and reed bunting. Common tern and cuckoo overhead, as well as my first swifts of the year. Not too shabby!