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Showing posts from May 17, 2015

Thursday 21st May 2015

This morning the weather was definitely more spring like, just as well as the second visits to the nest boxes that I am monitoring in the Upper Thames Valley was due. I checked 39 boxes over two sites and found that there was a single Tree Sparrow ready to be ringed along with 9 Blue Tits and 7 Great Tits, there are  9 boxes holding very small chicks or eggs so they will need visiting in about 10 days time. Sadly one box of 7 Blue Tits failed with all the young dead in the nest, the box was very wet inside which didn't help. The weather really improved during the day and there were Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Yellowhammers all in full song. I have left it too late to ring the Great Tits in the box in my garden, they are almost ready to fledge.

Tuesday 19th May 2015

A blustery morning saw me at Slimbridge WWT,  34 Avocets on site including a colour ringed bird prospecting for nest site on the Rushy pen, apparently this bird was seen in the Cardiff area over the weekend. Of note on a fast rising tide were 45 Dunlin, 19 Ringed Plover 3 Curlew. My main purpose of the visit was to collect the digi-scoping kit, for my HTC One mobile phone, which I had ordered in, I am impressed by its simplicity and also at first attempt the difference it makes compared to hand holding the phone to the telescope eye piece. As they say practise makes perfect!

Monday 18th May 2015

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With the weather being quite pants for most of the day not a lot to report, I have however been working on a design for business cards. I'm fairly happy with the design and the photo is one I took yesterday, so that was quite timely.   I would have got to this stage quicker had I used this photograph and not the other one I took, which upon closer scrutiny had the eye quite out of focus!!!!! (wish I'd seen that sooner).

Sunday 17th May 2015

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Today was the second Constant Effort Site, bird monitoring session, of the season at the Swindon Lagoons nature reserve a Thames Water Co site managed by the Wiltshire wildlife Trust. With sunrise getting earlier and earlier we arrived on site at 04:00hrs to set the 10 CES nets plus 6 others in a separate part of the reserve. The team getting into some ringing   There was a steady stream of summer breeders including, Reed and Sedge Warblers along with whitethroat and Blackcap as well as a decent number of Song Thrushes and Dunnocks the first fledglings of the year ringed were Blackbird and Robin.   There's plenty of other wildlife to be seen on this including reptiles in the guise of Slow Worms and Grass Snakes    Grass Snake Natrix natrix