6am last Saturday at the local nature reserve. Sometimes pictures just seem to take themselves.
The reserve isn't usually open so early and nor do I usually get up at 4.45, but this was for a special bird ringing event. Thankfully both my friend Jak and I are natural larks, but I left David at home snoring his head off in bed! The quality of my bird photos is not great, but here's one of a Willow Warbler and one of our second smallest bird, the Goldcrest, which only weighs the same as a 5p piece. They were caught in a net and then brought in dark drawstring bags to keep them calm. The warden handled them at all times and he's trained for 3 years to become a ringer. They are sexed [where possible], coded if they are a fledgling from this year, their wing length is measured and their weight taken before they are taken straight back to the part of the reserve that they are familiar with. The process is very quick and is done on a weekly basis. The info is then logged onto the national database and they are able to tell how far birds are migrating, how long they're living for, breeding success etc. Due to it being a very good year for insects the birds on the reserve have raised lots of successful broods and only 8 out of the 100 bird boxes have stayed empty. Any bird born on the reserve is ringed on the left leg with the unique code to this ringer, but usually countries [bar France] ring birds on the right leg. I learnt so much and saw birds which I'd never be able to see at close quarters under normal circumstances.
What a great way to kick off my weekend....mind you my timing was out for the rest of the day with me thinking that it was far later than it really was😂
Arilx
