The 2017 Welsh Ringing Course was held on the Gower Peninsula, South Wales, between Friday 8 and Monday 11 September 2017. The course was led by Kelvin Jones, the Welsh Development Officer for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and … Read More
A variable forecast, depending on the websites visited, made for a slightly uneasy build up to our weekly attempt to catch roosting swallows and wagtails. In the end, all was well, and the west / north-westerly wind dropped markedly during … Read More
A spell of settled weather allowed us to get a number of sessions in. Winds veered around, but were predominantly light, particularly over the bank holiday weekend. We captured 527 birds of 28 species. The combined total broke down as … Read More
A cold start to the morning of Sunday 13 August, with a light northerly airflow and open skies. We put a total of 840 feet of net though reed bed, rushy ground and broken scrub habitats, adding a further 60 … Read More
August has felt like another April to date. Very changeable weather, including cold, wet spells and variable winds that have swung around between south-west and due north. The Met Office has clearly struggled to know how quickly some fronts will … Read More
Light to moderate south-westerly winds and sunny intervals at Oxwich this morning, following a period of heavy overnight rain and moderate to strong south-westerlies during the preceding week. We put nets through the reed bed, fen and, later in the … Read More
A mixed morning. Light winds with occasional, sometimes heavy, showers and bright intervals. We set nets in the open reed bed, through rushy ground with scattered scrub, and around the feeders. The latter were only opened once captures from the … Read More
We are now in a position that we can take on new trainee ringers. We are active at a range of sites in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Carmarthenshire, including: Cwm Clydach RSPB Reserve where we have a long running … Read More
We have completed the first 6 sessions of the Constant Effort Site (CES) at WWT Llanelli. Numbers are down a little over last year at 142 whereas we had 162 by this time in 2016. However we were pleased to … Read More
Saturday June 17 proved ideal for ringing, with very little wind across the marsh and fairly overcast skies. We had anticipated a big catch, and were not disappointed with a tally of 185 birds of 22 species. The breakdown was … Read More
A calm, relatively windless start to the day, with the breeze picking up from the south-west by mid-morning. We set net lines (total 760 feet) through the reed bed, woodland / scrub and in an area of rushy ground with … Read More
The morning of 28 May was ideal for ringing; warm and virtually windless with overcast skies. We set a total of 720 feet of net in a mixture of reed bed and fringing scrub. The day total was 65 birds. … Read More
Perfect conditions for the first few hours today, with a very light north-westerly wind that gradually strengthened and veered to the south. Net rounds returned a steady flow of birds. The catch was as follows: Species Ringed Recaptured Total Great … Read More
A typically quiet early to mid-April period. Settled weather, with light to moderate predominantly north-westerly winds (the worst direction for the marsh as there is little opportunity to set nets in sheltered locations) typified the period. April and May are … Read More
A still, bright morning first thing, with a north-westerly breeze gradually picking up as time went on. We put nets on the edge of the South Pond, in some damp scrub on the edge of the marsh, and by the … Read More
Weather in mid to late March has remained unsettled. The conditions yesterday were fairly good, however, with a light northerly wind and open skies. We have managed two short additional sessions since our last Oxwich blog post, and the consolidated … Read More
In this session we caught a total of 52 birds. Our Siskin total this time was 35 including 2 controls, that is birds which were ringed somewhere else. We shall wait to see how far they have travelled. We … Read More
A pleasant morning; a light to moderate south-easterly wind and overcast. We tried targeting snipe in two areas, put a net by the feeder, and a line through the reed bed. The catch was as follows: Species New Recaptured Total … Read More