Saturday 18th June 2016

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WWT Llanelli


Today I joined the team from the Gower Ringing Group for another session at the Constant Effort Site (CES) at WWT Llanelli.

 The CES had been running for many years and provides useful data on the survival rates and suitability of the site for many species of birds, this data when added to the hundreds of other CES datasets is invaluable for the conservation of birds and habitats.

We captured and processed 28 birds this morning, not a huge number but representative of the numbers present in the monitoring site.

There were a few recently fledged birds including Robins, Chiffchaff, Wren and Song Thrush, as can be seen from the photograph below of the Song Thrush wing there is much to learn about the aging and sexing of each species when "in the hand", the need to accuracy reflected in the scientific output at the end of the season.


wing of the Song Thrush, see the orange coloured "thorn" shaped marks and
the crisp look to the plumage, all indicating a bird recently out of the nest
We also caught a Treecreeper,a delicate bird with exquisite plumage and a Sedge Warbler.

Treecreeper

Sedge Warbler





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