A bright, clear, still day. We put up a single net close to the feeders, as there remain few birds in the reed bed and ponies are currently grazing the open fields and have access to adjacent net rides. The … Read More
The first ringing session in a while, following a couple of weeks of rain and wind. Over the past few days the wind had swung to the east, and although it was not as light as forecast, we were able … Read More
An almost spring-like day, with a light to moderate south-westerly wind and overcast skies that gradually cleared over the morning. Unfortunately the water levels in the marsh remain very high, with deep mud and standing water in all of the … Read More
A change in the weather at last. Saturday 16 January was still and relatively mild on the marsh, with temperatures not getting below four degrees Celsius. A day total of 114 birds broke down as follows: Species Ringed Recaptured Total … Read More
So far there have only been two days in 2016 when ringing has been possible at Oxwich, 6 and 10 January. We have managed to get out on both of them. On 6 Jan the wind had swung to the … Read More
2015 was the third year of Gower Ringing Group activity at Oxwich Marsh. It proved to be another good one: group members put in a lot of effort, and were rewarded by some excellent returns. A summary follows, and a … Read More
After three weeks of no ringing due to weather, we took a calculated risk with the weather forecast today. It was supposed to be light rain until some time approaching 09:00, along with a 19 mph south-easterly wind. In fact … Read More
A light northerly breeze at the marsh swung to the west over the morning. Apart from a half hour period of persistent light to moderate rain, the weather was very pleasant, and the light wind allowed us to put nets … Read More
After a few weeks where personnel have been limited by holidays and other commitments, we had a good turn out for a session on 31 October. Since this time activity has been fairly limited due to weather, although Cedwyn has … Read More
Late October has seen unsettled, but not particularly wild weather, with varying wind speed and short periods of rain. In the calmer periods we have been able to get a couple of ringing sessions in. During the first of these … Read More
Due to the settled easterly weather we completed three sessions over five mornings. On two of the sessions we had very few ringers available, and consequently limited net out. During these sessions we concentrated our activity in the open reed … Read More
A very light easterly breeze on Friday and a moderate south-easterly wind on Saturday saw us complete sessions on back-to-back days. Due to limited personnel we only put out a few nets on each occasion. The results were very … Read More
A very calm, sometimes overcast morning with a light easterly wind saw our biggest catch at the marsh (in a standard ringing session) to date, 218 birds. The numbers resulted in an excellent session for the five trainees present. We … Read More
A short mid-week session and a longer Saturday session (with more net) both proved worthwhile. A total of 172 birds were processed, with the breakdown as follows: Species New Birds Recaptured Total Great Spotted Woodpecker 0 2 2 Meadow Pipit … Read More
A very light breeze that swung from the north to the south-west over the course of the morning, and relatively open skies resulted in a very pleasant morning on the marsh. We erected a total of 700 feet of net, … Read More
The Welsh Ringing Course took place between the afternoon of Friday 11 September and late morning of Monday 14 September. There were fourteen course participants, whose aspirations ranged between simply gaining more experience, to being assessed for (one of) their … Read More
We put our normal Saturday visit back a day due to the likelihood of excellent conditions for ringing on the Sunday. This proved a good decision, with a very large catch (216 birds). On the Monday we tried our second … Read More
A blustery Saturday, followed by a calm, cloudy Sunday. The Saturday was the main session due to people’s availability. We erected 500 feet of net in scrub (200 feet) and along a dry bund through reedbed with patches of … Read More