The first ringing session of 2015 got underway today at Manor Farm. Our main target species was the Scandinavian ninja - the Redwing. My bird ringing trainer Trevor & fellow trainee Chris had already set and furled five sets of nets yesterday so getting them open this morning pre-dawn was a doddle. We set another two nets in the morning in the garden of the victorian farmstead targeting Sparrows for Trev's RAS (Re-trapping Adults for Survival) Project.
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'Scandinavian Ninja' - Redwing
(Canon 5dmk2 50mm f/2.8 1/50sec iso160) |
It was a slow start but we soon had what we came for; a net at the far side of the farm produced a Female Bullfinch & a Redwing. Unfortunately that was the only Redwing we managed to catch today but we did have a great mixture of birds in our nets; Blackbird (4), Bullfinch (1), Redwing (1), Great Tit (2), Wren (2), Magpie (1), Blue tit (6), House sparrow (3), Wood Pigeon (1), Song thrush (1), Robin (1) & Goldcrest (2).
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Female Bullfinch - Manor Farm Jan 2015
(Sony rx100mk2 18mm f/3.2 1/60sec iso2000) |
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Juv. Magpie - Manor Farm Jan 2015
(Sony rx100mk2 23mm f/3.5 1/80sec iso1600) |
Soon it was time to pack down the Sparrow nets before the public started to come into the Farm and we soon closed up the others as there, strangely, didn't seem to be that many birds around. The conditions were great - overcast and not a whisp of wind but the birds just didn't want to play ball.
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Comparison of Male Firecrest (left) & Female Goldcrest (Right) - Manor Farm Country Park Dec 2014
(Canon 5dmk2 100mm f/4 1/80sec iso250) |
We got all the nets down from the Farm and moved up into the woodland area of the parkland to target some Firecrests. Before Christmas we had great success in this area ringing two Firecrest and three Goldcrest within 30mins of getting a net up and a tape lure playing. This time we tried a new area over the other side of the road and caught two male Goldcrest and two Blue tit.
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