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
Heather, Chris and I made the best of the good weather to undertake the ninth CES – Constant Effort Site – session of 2013 at the Kenfig National Nature Reserve. We decided to supplement the 108 metres of mist-netting in … Read More
Heather Coats and I joined forces for this morning’s CES session at the WWT Llanelli‘s ‘Millennium Wetlands’ site. We were hoping that the 2013 session would provide more than the four birds we amassed the previous year. Thankfully we surpassed … 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
Heather, Charlie, Chris, Aaron and I returned to Margam Country Park armed with a few extra nets and a bundle of home-grown bamboos courtesy of the Park’s Alison Lloyd. … 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
The first train of the day Heather, Chris, Alison and I ventured into Margam Country Park for some warm Saturday morning ringing. Three hours into the session we had to take down two of our nets from the rail track … Read More
Heather Coats, Chris Newberry and I ventured into Kenfig Pool for CES 8 this morning. The high water levels and cool conditions of 2012 being substituted for thick, glutinous mud and unforgiving heat in 2013. Today’s total of 17 birds … Read More
Yesterday I mentioned that a couple of crows had shown interest in the feed I had put out but would not go into the trapping area of the net. Well at 07.30pm this evening two crows wandered in and I … Read More
I had a play around with my new Whoosh Net this morning as well as a 20ft mist nest. A successful result for the Whoosh Net after tweaking the poles and release pins, catching 4 x Blackbird and 1 x … Read More
Cedwyn and I went to do CES 8 today helped by Ben and Hugh. CES 8 on the 20th July last year produced 8 birds of which 6 were juveniles. Today we caught 15 birds of which 13 were juveniles. … Read More
Heather Coats and I were joined this morning by Alison Lloyd of Margam Country Park. This was the first time for us to mist net in this particular area of the Park known as ‘Nursery Dywyll’ on the OS Map. … Read More
I have just returned from ringing with four friends after spending 3 nights camping on the uninhabited island of Eilean Nan Ron. The last people to live on the island were evacuated in December 1938 because life for the inhabitants … Read More
On a rather warm morning Heather and I were joined by Hugh and Wendy for CES 7. The total for the day reached fourteen with the large majority being juveniles including SONTH, CHIFF, ROBIN, BLACA, BLUTI, DUNNO, WREN and LOTTI. … Read More
This morning Chris Newberry joined forces with Heather Coats to undertake CES 7 at Kenfig NNR. The visit continued the run of poor bird numbers – as with every session this year the numbers are down on a poor year … Read More
Our planned visit to Crymlyn Bog this morning was aborted when we discovered that the entrance gate had been removed and replaced by a barbed wire fence. Rather than return home we paid a visit to Heather’s garden for some … Read More