I joined Heather Coats this morning for a short introductory ringing session with Phil Mead the Group’s new trainee. A six metre and a nine metre net were set in a dog-leg near the feeders which we hoped would draw … Read More
A poor forecast for the weekend meant some last minute arrangements were made to try a Friday session. The wind was a light south-westerly, and overhead cloud resulted in conditions that were not far from ideal. As has been typical of recent … Read More
Chris Newberry and I returned to Margam Park this morning with the promise of fine weather and the Met Office weren’t fooling as the site was bathed in Spring sunshine and sparse cloud. The Chiffchaffs continued to sing in the … Read More
Variable weather in the first few hours of the morning probably resulted in a far more limited catch than might have been. We put up the usual (winter) 160 feet of net, but had to furl for some time while an … Read More
Chris Newberry and I spent some time this morning judiciously pruning back the brambles alongside the railway track at our ringing site in Margam Park. This will allow us to leave the nets in place rather than remove them before … Read More
A light to moderate north-westerly wind and broken cloud at Oxwich this morning. After some early trouble with an inexplicably tangled net, a relatively relaxing session with a fairly steady rate of capture until we took the nets down just … Read More
The session after the biggest single-day catch for the Gower Ringing Group (168 birds from 3 nets), was always likely to be a slight anti-climax. However, it didn’t feel that way, as the number of birds per round gradually picked up (following a … Read More
With our noble leader taking ‘Paternity Leave’ from ringing at Oxwich (congratulations to Owain and Rhian on the birth of their daughter) it was left to the ‘Grey Brigade’ of Heather, Keith and myself to tend the nets aided by … Read More
Getting two weeks of ringing in a row has been difficult in 2014 to date due to the unsettled weather, but this week we managed it! A light south-westerly wind gradually increased over the morning, but despite this, and bright conditions making the nets … Read More
This morning saw the first ringing session at Oxwich Marsh for a month, following a sustained period of unsettled weather. The rides were (predictably) almost knee-deep in liquid sludge, while an early covering of ice on the surface, made the experience like walking … Read More
Today was our first Winter visit to the ringing area at Margam Park. With the seasonal train service around the Park not in use, we were able to leave our nets along the track in situ for the whole session. … Read More
The second session of 2014 coincided with a relatively hard frost that froze the padlock to the gate of the site (which needed some warming up prior to working). The weather was otherwise pretty good for ringing, however, with a gentle south-westerly breeze … Read More
This morning I joined Chris Newberry at the Kenfig Pool site for our first visit of the New Year. The ‘Met Office’ forecast an Amber Warning for Ice and they weren’t wrong – with the surface of both flooded rides frozen. … Read More
A belated start to the ringing year due to a long spell of unsettled weather. However, the weather on the morning of 11 January was good, with a very light north-westerly wind and clear skies. The latter probably influenced the … Read More
In 2013 ringing was undertaken at Oxwich Marsh for the first time since 2010. It was a good year, with over 800 new birds captured, and several re-traps of birds in excess of three years of age. Highlights included a … Read More
A break in the weather provided a window to get a final visit to Oxwich Marsh completed in 2013. Very light south-westerly winds meant the nets hardly moved in the first few hours of daylight, but the increasingly open skies made … Read More
This morning I accepted an invitation from Chris Newberry to join him for a ringing session at Kenfig. We set up 180′ of net in what is the (recently cleared) CES ride and a further 140′ in a newly created … Read More
Very light winds and overcast skies for the first couple of hours of the day resulted in a relatively high day-total for Oxwich. Eighty-nine birds of eleven species were processed. The catch was as follows: wren 1 (1), dunnock 3 (2), robin 2 … Read More