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| The three chicks hatched today |
I love being a bird ringer, someone who safely catches birds and puts identification rings on their legs so we can follow them later in life. It gives you the chance to really see birds up close and have an intimate insight into their lives.
As part of becoming a ringer I have also had the privilege of ringing babies birds in their nests. And in recent years I have got more into this, especially as the British Trust for Ornithology has been promoting us to look out for nests and record the number of eggs and chicks. This is providing a better picture of how well our common (and less common) birds are doing in terms of having eggs and babies.
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| The four beautiful eggs a week ago |
Over the past week I have been following a nest of dunnock eggs in my garden. I suspected they were nesting and a little searching revealed a nest with four beautiful bright blue eggs. This morning I checked on the nest to find three tiny babies and a single egg. Incredible! I think they have only just hatched and over the next week I will follow their development.
It is wonderful to see baby birds up so close in the wild. They grow so quickly and I hope to be able to ring them in a week's time. If they get found alive (or dead) we will know how old they are and where they came from.
