A still, overcast and cool morning seemed ideal conditions for ringing. Unfortunately no-one let the birds know. We only caught 16 birds in approximately 4 hours. However, as one of the birds was a firecrest, this went a long way to making … Read More
A cool morning with a very light north-westerly wind and broken cloud provided good conditions for ringing at the marsh. This was welcome, as it hadn’t been possible to find a day in the last couple of weeks when conditions … Read More
A break in the weather, with the south-westerly winds dropping slightly and the rain holding off, allowed a relatively short session at Oxwich this morning. The wind did pick up after a couple of hours, and the catch was limited by … Read More
Unsettled weather and a forecast of strong south-westerly winds in the build up to the weekend did not inspire confidence that a ringing session would be possible, but in the event the weather was relatively mild. A total catch of … Read More
The weather forecast for the weekend had been changeable for days, and the main concern was that the north-easterly wind would be too strong to allow a session to be held or that it would seriously limit the catch. In … Read More
A good morning at Oxwich Marsh with 81 birds of 12 species caught in overcast, calm conditions. In addition to resident species, reed warbler (5), chiffchaff (15), grasshopper warbler (1), blackcap (4) whitethroat (2) and swallow (23) were captured. One … Read More
Another beautiful day at Oxwich Marsh this morning. Due to the very low wind speed, and overhead movements of pipits, wagtails and Hirundines (barn swallow and house martin) we supplemented the usual nets in the reedbed and scrub with a triangle … Read More
As the weather forecast had been poor right up until last night (when it changed completely), the ringing session at Oxwich Marsh this morning was far better than expected. A light north-westerly wind wheeled gradually to the north and strengthened over … Read More
A pleasant morning with Keith Vaughton and Cedwyn Davies during which we caught a total of 58 birds at Oxwich Marsh. The day started damp and cool, but the north-westerly wind remained light until mid morning, and the sun came … Read More
A light northerly wind, which gradually strengthened over the session and little cloud cover probably contributed to the catch in the Oxwich reedbed dropping off rapidly. Despite 16 birds in the first net round, only 18 were caught in total, and … Read More
The last time we visited Crymlyn Bog was early spring. Since then we have been actively involved with our CES sites. Crymlyn Bog managed by CCW is the largest lowland Fen in Wales. The nature reserve is surrounded by an … Read More
A very light south-westerly wind and early cloud at Oxwich presented ideal conditions for ringing during the hour after dawn, but as the sun broke through catches per round steadily declined. The nets were taken down at 09:45. The total … Read More
In order to try and maximise our capture of reedbed warblers at Oxwich, Barry Stewart and I visited Oxwich this morning. Having arrived at around 05:30, we had five sixty-foot nets up by 06:15, allowing us an hour and a half of … Read More
Cedwyn, Aaron, Ben and I completed CES 10 at WWT Llanelli today. It felt very Autumnal first thing with temperatures around 11 degrees C at 05.30am. Last year CES 10 produced 10 birds and today we caught 15. We had … Read More
Despite some showers around dawn, the weather was good at Oxwich, only becoming breezy at around 09:30. A total of five sixty-foot nets resulted in an overall catch of 40 birds, most of which were trapped in the first couple … Read More
A steady session this morning. Less than thirty birds were caught, but fifteen of these were reed warblers, and there were also three sedge warblers, a whitethroat and two blackcaps. The remainder of the catch comprised wrens, blue tits and … Read More
Recent sessions at Oxwich Marsh have proved relatively productive. Yesterday, despite the wind picking up mid morning, and very bright conditions (resulting in nets being more visible), Keith Vaughton and I caught 35 birds of 11 species. It was nice to catch … Read More