Despite blustery conditions all day, the wind was forecast to die down in the evening. We had been waiting for an opportunity for some time to try and catch some (barn) swallows at Oxwich, as it was clear that birds … Read More
A bright start to the day, and few birds in the first few nets rounds didn’t bode well, especially as the wind was forecast to pick up from the west late morning. However, by around 08:00 it clouded over, and … Read More
We were hoping to fare better than last year when we had the lowest number of birds ever on our CES – 3! It was a good day with low wind and broken cloud and the first bird was a … Read More
The weather forecast had been touch and go all week, but in the event it was warm and sunny at Oxwich with a westerly breeze that gradually strengthened over the morning. Although the wind may have influenced the size of … Read More
The weather at Oxwich was bright and warm with a light westerly breeze. We put up a total of 560 feet of net in a range of habitats: reed bed, willow and bramble scrub and a new area we are calling ‘fen … Read More
Heather and I once again did the CES at WWT Llanelli. It was a reasonably good day with a nice mixture of birds and the best session we have had for migrants. The session was hampered by a really heavy … Read More
105 birds were trapped with four 60′ nets in the reeds during a fairly intense 3 hour session. Acro’s again were prominent with 71 (juv:ad ratio 66:5) Sedge Warblers and 20 (16:4) Reed Warblers forming the bulk of the catch. Mike with the latest Bird … Read More
Although the morning was reasonably successful in terms of numbers, the catch is likely to have been considerably reduced as a result of a westerly wind, which strengthened over the morning. We put 180 feet of net in the reedbed, … Read More
I’ve set up a couple of ringing rides in a small reedbed on the edge of the saltmarsh just west of the village. My interest here is to gain an insight into how much use these marginal habitats around the … Read More
The weather was very good for ringing for much of the morning, with a light (barely discernible) wind, broken cloud and hot, sunny intervals. We put up the usual 180 feet of net in the reedbed, 160 feet of net in … Read More
Today Heather and I did CES 9 at WWT Llanelli. The CES season so far this year has been an improvement in terms of birds numbers with the corresponding CES visits last year. However migrant numbers have not been as … Read More
Ideal ringing conditions at the marsh this morning: a warm day with very little wind and overcast conditions. We put 180 feet of net in the reedbed and a further 160 feet of net in willow and bramble scrub. The results … Read More
Charlie Sargent joined me to do the CES at the National Wetland Centre Wales . The weather was calm with some cloud cover. We had 27 birds and 22 of these were juvenile birds which is an improvement on last … Read More
I was joined by Heather Coats and Phil Mead for this morning’s ringing session at Margam Park. We supplemented our usual 102 metres of net with a further 36 metres in an attempt to find the optimal net placement within … Read More
Excellent conditions for ringing on the marsh this morning, with overhead cloud and no wind until persistent light rain stopped play around 11:00. A total of 83 birds of 17 species were captured. The breakdown of newly ringed and recaptured … Read More
The weather forecast had not given cause for optimism, but in the event there were light winds and we lost only 45 minutes to a prolonged heavy shower. This, and strong sunlight late morning resulted in a reduction in the … Read More
For the last ten consecutive Wednesday mornings we have been patiently monitoring the Pied Flycatcher RAS at RSPB Cwm Clydach so it was a change to spend a pleasant sunny Wednesday morning at our site in the grounds of Margam … Read More
A very light south-westerly wind and warm, cloudy conditions were ideal for ringing. Three different online weather forecasts had made differing assessments of the chance of rain over the morning, but thankfully none materialised. The catch was excellent. A total … Read More